THE launch of an unmanned SpaceX rocket – and an innovative attempt to land it on an ocean barge – got under way successfully on Tuesday (April 14) after bad weather postponed the launch on Monday (April 13).
The rocket, carrying a Dragon cargo ship bound for the International Space Station, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, located just south of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 1610est (2010gmt)
Once the rocket dispatches its upper-stage and Dragon capsule, it is programmed to flip around, fire engines to steer its descent and deploy landing legs to touchdown on a customized barge stationed about 200 miles (322 km) off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida.
At a pre-launch press conference on Sunday, SpaceX Vice President Hans Koenigsmann put the odds of a successful landing at 75 or 80 percent.
During a previous landing attempt in January, the rocket ran out of hydraulic fluid for its steering fins, causing it to crash into the platform.
A second attempt in February was called off because of high seas, but the rocket successfully ran through its per-programed landing sequence and hovered vertically above the waves before splashing down and breaking apart.
After demonstrating a successful ocean landing, SpaceX intends to bring its rockets back to a landing pad at the launch site so the boosters can be refurbished and re-flowing, slashing launch costs.
The primary purpose of the flight, the 16th of a Falcon 9 rocket, is to deliver more than 4,300 pounds of food, clothing, equipment – including an Italian-made espresso machine – and science experiments to the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth.
SpaceX is one of two companies hired by NASA to fly cargo to the station following the retirement of the space shuttles. In addition to a recently extended 15-flight NASA contract, worth more than $2 billion, SpaceX is working on a passenger version of the Dragon capsule and has dozens of contracts to put commercial communications satellites into orbit.
The company also is working on a heavy-lift version of the Falcon rocket, which uses 27 engines, compared with the nine currently flying. The Falcon Heavy is expected to make its first test flight late this year. (Reuters)
