News Falcon 9 Block 5 | SpX-DM1 (Demonstration Mission 1) | March 2, 2019 07:49:00 UTC

[IronRain]

Dragon 2 remains on track for her maiden flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in March following a green light from the key Flight Readiness Review (FRR) on Friday. The Agency Level FRR meeting was the final review stage from all relevant elements involving SpaceX, NASA Commercial Crew and the ISS program, with the milestones now progressing towards a SpaceX Launch Readiness Review (LRR) a few days prior to the March 2 target.

Dragon 2’s uncrewed mission to the ISS is a major step towards the United States regaining domestic crew launch capability.

Both Dragon 2 and Boeing’s Starliner are aiming to conduct successful maiden flights to the orbital outpost in order to validate their systems ahead of their first crewed missions.

With SpaceX’s DM-2 set to be the first launch of crew in the summer, that mission will finally return a capability lost when Shuttle Atlantis landed in 2011 to conclude STS-135.

Sources:
- https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019/02/spacex-gains-frr-green-light-dm-1-iss/
- http://launchlibrary.net/

 

[IronRain]

SpaceX plans to land the first stage booster on tonight's launch on the company's drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" positioned in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft will be the heaviest payload ever launched by SpaceX. The weight of the capsule, coupled with a launch trajectory designed to allow for a safer abort for astronaut crews, will prevent the rocket from keeping enough propellant in reserve to fly all the way back to SpaceX's landing zone at Cape Canaveral.

The first stage booster launching tonight is a brand new vehicle.

SpaceX has landed one of its Falcon 9 first stage boosters 34 times since December 2015 -- 22 times one a drone ship at sea, and 12 times on land.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/03/01/falcon-9-crew-dragon-demo-1-mission-status-center/

 

[IronRain]

All weather parameters are currently observed "go" at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft at 2:49 a.m. EST (0749 GMT).

https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/03/01/falcon-9-crew-dragon-demo-1-mission-status-center/

 

[IronRain]

T-minus 1 hour, 13 minutes. The countdown continues proceeding toward liftoff of the 215-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket at 2:49 a.m. EST (0749 GMT).

Coming up within the next hour, the SpaceX launch director will give approval to begin loading propellants into the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket. The Crew Dragon's launch escape system will be armed at 2:12 a.m. EST (0712 GMT), about the same time the crew access arm at pad 39A will be retracted away from the capsule.

Filling of the Falcon 9 with super-chilled, densified RP-1 kerosene fuel will begin at 2:14 a.m. EST (0714 GMT). Cryogenic liquid oxygen will flow into the first stage beginning at the same time.

Liquid oxygen loading into the second stage will begin 2:33 a.m. EST (0733 GMT).

 

[IronRain]

T-minus 60 minutes. After liftoff, the Falcon 9 rocket will head northeast from the Kennedy Space Center, driven by 1.7 million pounds of thrust from nine Merlin 1D main engines.

Here's a timeline of the major events during the Falcon 9's climb to orbit, including the booster's maneuvers to return to Earth for landing on SpaceX's drone ship:

T+00:58: Max-Q (moment of peak aerodynamic pressure)
T+02:35: First stage main engine cutoff
T+02:38: Stage separation
T+02:42: Second stage engine ignition
T+07:48: First stage entry burn
T+08:59: Second stage engine cutoff
T+09:24: First stage landing burn
T+09:52: First stage landing
T+11:00: Crew Dragon separation from second stage
T+12:00: Crew Dragon nose cone opening

 

[IronRain]

Webcast is live

 

[IronRain]

T-minus 35 minutes. "Launch auto sequence has started." RP-1 kerosene fuel is now flowing into both stages of the Falcon 9 rocket, and liquid oxygen is being pumped into the first stage.

 

[IronRain]

T-minus 28 minutes. Here are some statistics on today's launch:

69th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
75th launch of Falcon rocket family since 2006
55th Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral
110th launch from pad 39A
15th Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A
16th SpaceX launch from pad 39A
1st launch of a Crew Dragon spacecraft
1st launch of Falcon 9 booster B1051
3rd Falcon 9 launch of 2019
3rd launch by SpaceX in 2019
2nd launch overall from Cape Canaveral in 2019

 

[IronRain]

SpaceX is topping off kerosene and liquid oxygen supplies on both stages of the Falcon 9, totaling more than a million pounds of propellant.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

LIFTOFF!

---------- Post added at 23:54 ---------- Previous post was at 23:51 ----------

MECO... stage sep... Second stage light off!

Booster has deployed gridfins and is orienting for reentry

---------- Post added 03-02-19 at 00:00 ---------- Previous post was 03-01-19 at 23:54 ----------

STUCK THE LANDING!

---------- Post added at 00:02 ---------- Previous post was at 00:00 ----------

Dragon has taken wing!

 

[barrygolden]

well said. it was a great view from the Cape

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Here's the highlight reel:

I love how the plush toy hardly moves even through staging. Is it fastened down in any way? I thought they threw it in to show when they were in zero-G.

Looks like a nice ride to orbit.

 

[BrianJ]

Awesome launch Good 1st stage landing in what looked like choppy seas.

 

[IronRain]

Awesome launch Good 1st stage landing in what looked like choppy seas.

Yeah I noticed that as well. It seems like they're getting the hang of it

 

[Interceptor]

I watched from the beach near my place,about an hour north of Cape Canaveral,you could even see the first stage land on the barge out at sea,it was so clear out,truly impressive.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

These are all from the 20 meter hold point

 

[IronRain]

HD feed FTW!

 

[Marijn]

Well done. Cool shots.

 

[barrygolden]

hey Guys I know you are looking at some updated to Dragon but super job so far. I'm trying to follow this with orbiter but the ISS is in the wrong orbit any idea how to get in the right position? I have tried scenario editor but still doesn't get it in the right place

 

[PhantomCruiser]

There should be a [Date] button on the scenario editor. From there you can select [Now] to put things where they should be?

Back to the ISS here... The crew has made ingress.