ENG: Small post about the upcoming SpaceX launch
Updated: Jul 8, 2020
Hey everyone, David here again, just wanted to talk about the upcoming launch for those of you who don't know about it. It's gonna be a short post as I really just want to update you really quickly on what's going on.
SpaceX has been building a lot of rockets and promising a lot of things this decade, and they truly have been demonstrating competence, success, and courage when it comes to building rockets, which has been proved by a number of successful missions.
Currently, they have two rockets that work and one that is under testing and development, which I will briefly talk about right now.
Falcon 9
The Falcon 9 is SpaceX's most used rocket, as it has proven to be extremely reliable, from the dozens of missions it has successfully achieved, and cost-efficient, as the first stage booster, after being separated from the second stage way up in the atmosphere, comes back to earth and lands on a remote drone waiting for it on the Atlantic Ocean, which is a beautiful thing to see.
This rocket is the one who will take astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS from U.S soil aboard a U.S rocket for the first time since the last Space Shuttle mission back in 2011. The vehicle, instead of the usual payload fairings, will carry SpaceX's Dragon 2 Crew Capsule, an extremely modern capsule designed to be pretty much autonomous during launch and landing, turning the astronaut's role one of observer and mediator, constantly checking systems instead of making them work (although, for safety reasons, the capsule is also capable of manual flying).
Falcon Heavy
Pretty much three Falcon 9's strapped together, the Falcon Heavy is the world's most powerful currently active rocket. It consists of three stages and is completely reusable, as the first stages side boosters land back on Cape Canaveral and the second stage booster also lands, however, in the middle of the Atlantic on a remote drone (the same one that catches the Falcon 9's first stage).
With its debut on February 6th, 2018, the rocket has flown twice since its test, and both were successful missions, with the first one able to retrieve the second stage from the drone, as during the test flight such was lost upon impact with the drone. This is by far my favorite rocket to see flying and it really puts on a show with the boosters coming back and the massive size of the vehicle. Simply Amazing
Starship/BFR/Whatever SpaceX calls it
Last but not least, the Starship, otherwise known as BFR, is SpaceX's vision of the future of space travel. Consisting of two stages, the Starship will be completely reusable and is, according to Elon Musk, the vehicle that will start a colony on Mars and will carry more passengers than any other rocket ever flown: a true "Space Taxi".
The company also has plans to make "in-earth" flights (from country to country) utilizing the Starship: multiple landing pads would be located across the world, making trips that would take over 10 hours aboard airplanes mere minutes aboard the Starship, as it would go... well, hypersonic... on space, which is pretty fast.
Recently, last Wednesday actually, they successfully tested the Raptor Engine on a static fire test. A small fire started right after cutting off the ignition, however, nothing to be worried about. It was small and was contained pretty quickly. The test overall shows that SpaceX is delivering promises and actually doing work on their projects, which is very good to see.
Welp, now that we've gone over their rockets, let's get back to the May 27th launch.
What is so special about the launch?
This launch is going to be a very historic one. Since the termination of the Space Shuttle Program, the U.S has depended heavily on Russia to send its astronauts to the I.S.S., as the only rocket currently sending astronauts to space right now is the Soviet Soyuz, an old yet extremely reliable rocket.
That is politically shameful in a way for the United States, and they have been eager to have their own way to send their own to the I.S.S without any help from strangers, and this is where SpaceX comes in.
This launch will be the first time American astronauts go to the I.S.S. aboard an American vehicle from American soil, as the last time this happened was back in 2011 when Space Shuttle Atlantis spread its wings for the last time during the STS-135 mission. As a matter of fact, one of the astronauts on tomorrow's mission was a member of said mission: Astronaut Doug Hurley was the pilot of STS-135, and they left an American flag aboard the I.S.S. to be retrieved by the next American that arrives there aboard a U.S vehicle from U.S soil... little did he know he was the one who was going to retrieve that flag, 9 years later aboard the Dragon 2 capsule on top of a Falcon 9 rocket.
Not only will it be important for that reason, but it will also mark an important new era of Space Exploration: the private industry area. Last time the U.S sent its men and women to space, it did so with their own government funding with NASA. This time, however, the agency is partnering up with a private company and will use said company's rocket and capsule to fly their man to space, which is also the first time it is ever happening. However, expect to see this many more times, as many of NASA's projects will have heavy support from companies like Boeing, SpaceX, ULA, etc., who will be the ones that develop landers, rockets, and other hardware used during the missions/program.
With that being said, tune in on NASA's youtube or SpaceX's, and experience this historical launch from the comfort of your home.
Well, folks, that was it for today's post! This was a short one as I really just wanted to talk about this upcoming historical masterpiece of a launch it will be, and let you all know why it is so important. I will see you next post, stay safe everyone! Peace!
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