SPACE

SpaceX is purposely destroying a Falcon 9 rocket this weekend. Here's what you might see.

Emre Kelly
Florida Today

Update: SpaceX is now targeting no earlier than 8 a.m. Sunday for liftoff, the opening of a six-hour window. Weather conditions caused the one day delay.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will be hurtling across the Atlantic Ocean at 1,400 mph early Saturday when its Crew Dragon partner aborts the flight, vaults away from the scene, and leaves it behind to break apart into countless pieces.

But that rapid series of events — and catastrophic ending for the booster — will be by design.

SpaceX and NASA teams are purposely destroying a Falcon 9 booster as part of an in-flight abort test, which is designed to simulate a mid-flight emergency and force Crew Dragon to use its abort engines and flee the scene. It's a critical test, especially since astronauts will one day ride the capsule to the International Space Station.

Despite the fact that the process will happen some 60,000 feet in altitude, spectators should be able to catch a glimpse of the rocket breaking apart if skies are clear. Since the rocket's first and second stages will be fueled, SpaceX officials expect that an ignition and fireball could occur as Falcon 9 plummets toward the ocean.

"We expect there to be some sort of ignition and probably a fireball of some kind," Benji Reed, SpaceX's director of crew mission management, said during a pre-launch briefing at Kennedy Space Center on Friday. "Whether I would call it an explosion that you see from the ground, I don't know. We'll have to see what actually happens."

Here are the mission highlights:

> 8 a.m.: Liftoff from KSC's pad 39A (teams have until noon if they need it).

> T-plus ~84 seconds: Falcon 9's Merlin main engines will shut down, signaling to Crew Dragon there's been an "emergency" in the mission. The capsule's onboard computers will automatically detect this and fire the SuperDraco thrusters to push away from the rocket. At this point, it's about 2.5 miles away from the pad and about 60,000 feet in altitude.

> During descent: After the brief abort engine firing, the capsule will re-orient itself and deploy its parachutes ahead of splashdown.

> T-plus 10 minutes: Crew Dragon splashes down in the Atlantic some 18 miles offshore. SpaceX, NASA, and Air Force teams will begin moving in to secure and recover the spacecraft before transporting it to Port Canaveral. Teams will also begin recovering debris.

So far, weather for Saturday's attempt stands at 90% "go," according to the 45th Weather Squadron. In the event of a delay to Sunday or Monday, those conditions are expected to worsen.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.

Launch Saturday

  • Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
  • Mission: Crew Dragon in-flight abort test
  • Launch Time: 8 a.m.
  • Launch Window: Four hours
  • Launch Pad: 39A at Kennedy Space Center
  • Weather: 90 percent "go"

Tune into floridatoday.com/space for live video and coverage of the in-flight abort test beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday.

Launch Tuesday

  • Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
  • Mission: 60 Starlink satellites
  • Launch Time: 12:20 p.m.
  • Launch Complex: 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
  • Weather: Forecast expected Friday

Tune into floridatoday.com/space for live video and coverage of the Starlink launch beginning at 11 a.m. Tuesday.