SpaceX set for Friday re-launch of Falcon 9 rocket from KSC
James DeanNote: Follow live here.
SpaceX’s push to reuse rockets continues Friday with a planned 2:10 p.m. launch of Bulgaria’s first communications satellite from Kennedy Space Center.
It’s the start of SpaceX’s most ambitious sequence of launches yet, potentially flying twice within 48 hours from two coasts, and three times in less than two weeks.
In the process, SpaceX will tie and then surpass its high mark of eight successful launches in a calendar year — if it can avoid the type of failures that derailed fast starts in each of the two previous years.
“A lot of that is turning things into routine, I would say, and learning just to deal with these operations better and better every time,” said Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX vice president of flight reliability, of the company’s high flight rate in 2017.
The forecast Friday is excellent, with a 90 percent chance of acceptable weather during the two-hour window at KSC’s pad 39A.
Eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff with the nearly 8,000-pound BulgariaSat-1 spacecraft, the Falcon 9’s first stage will attempt to land on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean, an event not visible from the shore.
More:How to watch Friday's launch and landing of 'flight proven' SpaceX Falcon 9
That would be a familiar experience for a booster that launched and landed for the first time in January, when it lifted Iridium satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
SpaceX in March proved it can reuse large, orbital-class rockets, launching the SES-10 satellite with a first stage that had flown a year earlier.
SpaceX booster may be displayed near Port Canaveral, Air Force Station
The “flight proven” stage launching Friday, which test-fired nine Merlin main engines last Thursday, is being turned around for its second flight in half as much time.
“We have full confidence in the reused first stage,” said Wendy Lewis, a spokeswoman for satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral, which signed the launch contract with SpaceX. “We think this is going to be the way of the future, that launch vehicles aren’t going to be throwaways.”
Maxim Zayakov, CEO of BulgariaSat and Bulsatcom, echoed that confidence.
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“We ended up finding out that this is not that much of a risk,” Zayakov told FLORIDA TODAY last month. “In fact, we think the other way around, because a 'flight proven' first stage has all its systems been already used in flight, and it is very thoroughly checked after that, too.”
The companies did not say how much refurbishment the booster underwent, or how much of a discount came with the used rocket. SpaceX advertises satellite launches on new rockets for $62 million.
“We think that this is a good choice and, yes, of course it saved us some money,” said Zayakov.
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If the launch from KSC goes well, SpaceX plans to follow up two days later with its second launch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites from Vandenberg.
Though not so uncommon in the 1960s, two launches of the same type of U.S. rocket within two days of each may not have happened for more than 40 years. A pair of Titan III launches in February 1974 was the last instance that local launch historian John Hilliard could confirm.
More:Weather looks good for Friday launch of 'flight proven' SpaceX Falcon 9
“This indicates they have enough people at both complexes to be able to support both operations,” said Hilliard, of Satellite Beach. “It shows they have the flexibility and manpower to launch off both coasts within 48 hours.”
The back-to-back Falcon 9 launches could even unfold within 24 hours, if the BulgariaSat mission slipped to Saturday.
“The situation that we launch from both coasts is somewhat new for us,” said Koenigsmann. “We’ve had a little bit of separation in the past, and we’ve set up the teams to be able to cope with that and basically have the ability to launch from both sites within a short time period.”
If those two missions go off as planned, SpaceX hopes to squeeze in another commercial satellite launch from KSC by the July 4 holiday, before the Eastern Range closes for a scheduled two-week maintenance period.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at facebook.com/jamesdeanspace.
Launch Friday
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Mission: BuglariaSat-1 communications satellite
Launch Time: 2:10 p.m.
Launch Window: to 4:10 p.m.
Launch Complex: 39A at Kennedy Space Center
Weather: 90 percent “go”
Join floridatoday.com for countdown chat and updates starting at 12:30 p.m. Friday, including streaming of SpaceX's webcast starting about 15 minutes before liftoff.