Thursday, May 26, 2016

[Update: postponed, will try again tomorrow. SpaceX Thaicom launch scheduled to today

SpaceX is scheduled to launch  a Thaicom communications satellite shortly.  Window opens at 5:40 PM ET, (9:40 PM UTC).  

Due to the nature of this launch another attempt at a landing at sea will be attempted. As always, these attempts are secondary to the main mission.  The landings at sea are much more challenging, but the company has completed two in a row now.   Despite this success the company is trying to keep expectations low. 

Speaking of these landings, I didn't manage to post about the last mission. That mission provided SpaceX its second sea landing in a row. And it was a spectacular one. The live feed started with a pitch black view from the deck, followed by a blaze of light so bright in contrast that my first thought was that it ended in a fire ball. But the engines cut off and the smoke cleared and there was the Falcon standing perfectly.  It was quite a thrill, and as you can imagine the SpaceX facility erupted in cheers. 

SpaceX is back to turning around launches at a rapid pace - catching up on their backlog - and showing that they are "back in the game". 

No comments:

Post a Comment