SpaceX SES-9 5th attempt is the charm.

March 5, 2016

SpaceX SES-9 5th attempt is the charm.

Last evening at 1835 EST (2335 UTC) at the Cape Canaveral Airforce Station Space Launch Complex SLC-40 with a very windy evening coming out of the North East. 

SpaceX prove the old addage "3rd times the charm" doesnt work anymore this was the 5th and Golden Ticket as the clock hit T-minus 0 the 2nd launch of the Hawthorne California based New Space Groups lifted off the launchpad into the Friday evening dusk. After the main engine cutoff SpaceX would attempt to land the Falcon 9 v1.2 (Full Thrust) Booster on the ASPDS ( automated spaceport drone ship) " Of Course I Still Love You! ", which is a 300' x 200' remote controlled landing barge.

 Created by SpaceX for the ocean landings of  Falcon Heavy Core Stage after a geostationary or geosynchronous orbit launch. So they can reuse it and further their knowledge of reusable first stage boosters and cut the cost of commercial Spaceflight.

Due to the complex and risky nature of the launch SpaceX did not start fueling the 2nd stage liquid oxygen tank until 30 minutes before launch due to the extreme cryo temperatures of 340 degrees farenheit (near Absolute Zero) that they needed to achieve to allow more liquid oxygen to be put into the tank. This was to ensure the stable placement of geostationary orbit of the SES 9 satellite.

Due to the the Falcon 9 1st stage booster needing most of the RP-1 rocket fuel to get the 2nd stage to its optimal apogee, there would be no boostpack burned which means the Falcon 9 booster would be coming in hot, way faster than was ever tried before. 

It would then attempt the powered soft landing with whatever fuel was left over to land on the barge. And even with this it did hit the barge which is a huge milestone in SpaceX's mission for full booster re-usability. But unforunately it did not survive the barge landing.

(above) SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.2 SES-9 on SCL-40 from LC-39 Gantry vantage.

(above) SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.2 SES-9 on SCL-40 from NASA East Causeway vantage.

(above) SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.2 SES-9 on its way to Geostaionary orbit from CCAFS Gate 1 vantage. 

(above) SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.2 SES-9 after MECO and Payload Fairing seperation from CCAFS Gate 1 vantage. 

SpaceX SES-9 Mission Patch with ASPDS Icon

Photo credits: Michael J. McCabe / SpaceX