201810.08
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SpaceX launch lights up Southern California skies; booster returns to earth not far from launch site

by in News

 

  • A SpaceX rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Sunday night. Photo: SpaceX

  • A satellite floats away from the SpaceX rocket and is deployed into action on Sunday night. Photo: SpaceX

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  • A rocket booster lands on a pad not far from where it took off at Vandenberg Air Force Base on Sunday night. Photo: SpaceX

  • The landing pad where the SpaceX booster landed Sunday night. Photo: SpaceX

  • A SpaceX booster lands safely back to Earth not far from where it took off Sunday night. Photo: SpaceX

  • A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sits on the launch pad Sunday night. Photo: Space X

  • A SpaceX rocket launch lit up the sky over Southern California on Sunday night. Staff photo, Brian Rokos

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Hawthorne-based rocket maker SpaceX successfully deployed its latest satellite into orbit during an evening liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base that lit up South California’s skies.

Sunday’s launch of the workhorse Falcon 9 rocket represented several milestones for the company led by Elon Musk. It was the second re-flight of a Falcon 9 first stage booster, and it was also the first to return to the launch site, not to a barge offshore.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Sunday evening. Photo courtesy SpaceX

Viewers were able to see the rocket fire into the upper limits of the Earth’s atmosphere before separating and releasing the unmanned spacecraft.

The booster rocket descended back to the launch site in a synchronized controlled burn. Legs extended out from the rocket and it landed successfully on a pad near where it took off at the base near Lompoc.

Earlier this week, SpaceX completed a static fire test of its Falcon 9 rocket at the launch site, essentially a dress rehearsal of the actual launch including a brief test firing of its 9 Merlin engines.

Earlier this week, the Air Force warned in a statement the event would cause up to three sonic booms on re-entry.

While SpaceX has successfully recovered 29 first stage boosters — the only commercial spaceflight company to do so — those have all been onto drone ships at sea.

Sunday’s recovery represents the first to return to the landing area. The stated goal for SpaceX is to have the first stage booster cleaned and ready to be used again in 24 hours.

The launch set social media abuzz, as a light show filled the skies over the region with bizarre, morphing, ghost-like shapes of multiple colors.

This weekend’s launch propelled the first of two satellites into space for the Argentine Space Agency, which will perform radar observations from low-Earth orbit, the primary goal being to mitigate the effects of natural disasters.

  • Mr Steven the fairing catching boat for SpaceX gets version 3 of it’s catcher’s mitt arms installed Wednesday afternoon in San Pedro October 3, 2018. With each version the surface area of the net increases to allow a better chance of catching the $6,000,000 fairing. SpaceX has a launch scheduled for Saturday at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Photo By Chuck Bennett

  • Mr Steven the fairing catching boat for SpaceX gets version 3 of it’s catcher’s mitt arms installed Wednesday afternoon in San Pedro October 3, 2018. With each version the surface area of the net increases to allow a better chance of catching the $6,000,000 fairing. SpaceX has a launch scheduled for Saturday at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Photo By Chuck Bennett

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Meanwhile, activity in San Pedro at the Port of Los Angeles has been heating up with technicians refitting the giant “octopus arms” of Mr. Steven, the specialized ship built to catch the nose cone fairings as they glide back to Earth.