Falcon Heavy launch date set! Feb. 6th at 1:30 PM EST

Elon Musk announced yesterday that the Falcon Heavy could launch as soon as February 6th.  A tentative three hour launch window was set for 1:30 PM EST.

I've been waiting years for this - and I know I'm not alone!

Mark you calendars and tune in to the live launch at the SpaceX Webcast page.

Check out this this spaceflightnow.com post for more details.

Falcon Heavy is launching soon. Here's some info about this historic launch.

There is plenty of information available about the Falcon Heavy.  But here are a few for my friends that get their SpaceX news from me instead of the dozens of space related sites (as well as the SpaceX Falcon Heavy page).

• Falcon Heavy is comprised of 3 Falcon 9 rockets.  
• It will be the most powerful rocket ever launched.  
• The most powerful rocket since the Saturn V, which took us to the Moon.  
• It will be over twice as powerful as any rocket currently flying (the Saturn V was retired in the early 70's).

The first "demo" launch will also be historic.

• SpaceX will attempt to recover all three boosters: two will return to the SpaceX landing site near the lauch pad, and the center booster will attempt to land on the autonomous "drone" ship "Of course I still Love you".
• It will be the first time a private company has launched a spacecraft beyond Earth's orbit.
• It will be launching from the same historic launch pad that the Saturn V Apollo missions launched from.
• The payload will be Elon Musk's personal Tesla roadster. 

And why launch a car into orbit around the Sun?
First, because something had to simulate a payload (dummy weight is usually used).

But mostly it seems it's because Elon Musk thinks it would be cool -- and it's his rocket, and his car, so...

But Tesla or not, a successful mission would provide valuable data for future Mars missions.

So, in addition to flight testing a new rocket configuration, the mission - if successful - will also be a tangible step towards landing on Mars, which has been the company's stated mission from the beginning.

But as Elon Musk said himself, is may also end in a big fireball.  "Some things can't be tested" without launching them.  There is a lot that could go wrong in something this complex.

But when?
Who knows.  There have been delays in the critical testing that leads up to a launch.   And these have been exasperated by the recent (and potential future) government shutdown as explained here.
So there is no official launch date, but the end of January is getting close, so we could it slip into February.

UPDATE: The hold-down firing of the rocket could occur tomorrow, with a tentative schedule between 2 PM and 6 PM EST (1700-2300 GMT).  This assumes the fueling and countdown rehearsal that precedes it goes according to plan.

Back from a short break to talk SpaceX

Landing failure video

Although it's old news by now, if you didn't catch the SpaceX YouTube video "How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster", head on over and check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ.  Who doesn't want to see things blow up?

But seriously, it shows some confidence to create a blooper reel of your failures.  Of course, these weren't really mission failures, as the booster recovery was never the primary mission goal.  Still, it was capability that SpaceX wanted to be able to demonstrate, and crucial to it's long term rocket reusability goal.

For the record, SpaceX has completed 39 of its 41 missions and has now landed every one of its last 12 attempts - both at land and at sea.  So, with the failures in the video being pretty much a thing in the past, its a bit easier to show the failures.

SpaceX has never been a company that glosses over their failures – probably because rockets that explode are pretty visible failures. Now, Elon Musk’s company has taken this transparency to a whole new level: A blooper reel.

Falcon Heavy

The long awaited first launch of the Falcon Heavy is drawing nearer.  The three Falcon boosters have completed their testing at the SpaceX engine development center in McGregor, Texas.  They are likely on their way to the Florida by now (if they're not there already).

A hold-down firing with all 27 Merlin engines is planned at pad 39A in the days before the test launch.

The plan is for to attempt to recover all three rocket cores.  The two side boosters will be able to return to landing zone, while the third will travel father and will need to land at sea on the drone ship "Of course I still Love you".

Elon Musk was tamping down expectations for the mission in July stating that it may not even make it out of orbit.  The reason: “It was actually shockingly difficult to go from a single-core to a triple-core vehicle,” Musk said.  Fingers crossed that the launch exceeds expectations.  Either way, as SpaceX has proven in the past, they will learn a great deal and will make it seem routine more quickly that seems possible.

Then, around the Moon and off to Mars.

SpaceX has a very busy launch schedule - 8 possible launches before year end

SpaceX appears fully recovered from it's single mission failure last year. They have managed several landings - first at it's new landing site at Cape Canaveral and then at sea - a much more difficult task, but an important one as not all missions are able to send the rocket all the way back to the cape. Landing the Falcon 9 rocket has always been a secondary mission objective - but a very important one in support of SpaceX's reusable rocket goal.

Rocket reusability is not only important for its cost savings, but also for the ability to shorting the time between launches. Even now the company is turning out missions faster than has ever been done before. And with the current schedule it will be launching multiple rockets in a single month. Here is the current launch schedule (with a lot of the exact launch dates still TBD):

Sept. 3	Amos 6
Sept. 19	Iridium Next 1-10
October	SES 10
October	EchoStar 23
October	Fermosat 5 and Sherpa
November	SES 11 (EchoStar 105)
November	Falcon Heavy Demo Flight
Nov. 11	CRS 10 (SPX 10)

Even with the their track record of quick turn arounds, this schedule would not be possible if all of the launches were from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral. But with some flights out of Vandenberg AFB, and Falcon Heavy launching from the reconfigured SLC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, it could just happen.

Speaking of Falcon Heavy, with several rockets having been successfully landed now, it is what I'm looking forward to next (and I'm sure I'm not alone). Falcon Heavy has been anticipated for some time now. And had the big rocket just made a successful flight and ended up as the foundation of a new reef in the Atlantic, I would have been thrilled. But with the current landing success rate - and the presence of the landing complex - the possibility of the three Falcon 9 rockets separating and each landing itself autonomously is a real possibility. Would that be a sight to see!

Then what? We still have the manned Dragon 2 as well as the new Raptor engine (with greater power and re-useablity) to look forward to. And with these the company truly will be on course toward its big, red goal.

Falcon Heavy