SpaceX - SES-10
Re-Launch
Space Exploration Merit Badge Supplementals
(created Fri. Mar. 31, 2017)
This is an extension of
the Space Exploration Merit Badge page.
This page shows images from the Mar. 30, 2017 SpaceX launch of the SES-10 communications satellite, and the successful landing of the first stage on the Of Course I Still Love You (Atlantic Ocean) autonomous spaceport drone ship.
The Falcon 9 rocket that launched the SES-10 included the same first stage from the Apr. 8, 2016 mission that launched the Dragon capsule to resupply the ISS / International Space Station.
The purpose of reusing the first stage is to help drive down the significant cost of spaceflight - reuse the most expensive part of the rocket.
This is the first time in history that a first stage of an orbital* first stage was reused.
As noted by SpaceX in their pre-launch Press Release:
“SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will deliver SES-10, a commercial communications satellite for SES, to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). SES is a world-leading satellite operator, providing reliable and secure satellite communications solutions across the globe.
“The SES-10 mission will mark a historic milestone on the road to full and rapid reusability as the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket. Falcon 9’s first stage for the SES-10 mission previously supported the successful CRS-8 mission in April 2016.
“SpaceX is targeting launch of SES-10 from historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.”
* (See Blue Origin for its Nov. 23, 2015 accomplishment)
This page starts with an overall SpaceX goal, ...
One of SpaceX’s goals is to lower the cost of space exploration by reusing launch vehicles.
Their first successful launch-and-landing of a first stage was on December 21, 2015, when the first stage of the Orbcomm-2 LOE mission landed on the Atlantic Ocean-based “Of Course I Still Love You” landing pad (see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_spaceport_drone_ship).
Given that was Christmas week, I missed the news until Dec. 26, at which point all four of us watched the rebroadcast of the webcast, together.
Since then I followed the launches, and the first stage landings, as closely as possible, and also share videos of some on another page on this site: http://vanvooren.us/MeritBadges/SpaceX.html.
Links to videos are below, and photos captured on the iPhone 6+ are below these links.
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1.March 30, 2017 (SES-10 - GTO / Geostationary Transfer Orbit)
SES-10 Hosted Webcast
(53 minute version)
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-Re-launch and re-land the same first stage orbital booster from the Apr. 8, 2016 CRS-8 mission
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-19:00 min mark - Launch / Re-Launch
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-21:00 min mark - first stage separation
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-26:45 min mark - Landing on Of Course I Still Love You
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-50:00 min mark - SES-10 satellite deployment
I also posted these photos to Facebook (something I don’t do often).
This is the intro to these photos:
SpaceX launched the SES-10 communications satellite yesterday, Thr. Mar 30, 2017.
The satellite deployment was a success.
More important was the historic first... SES was proud to have its SES-10 satellite launched from the first-ever reused orbital rocket.
The Falcon 9 that propelled SES-10 into orbit on Mar. 30, 2017 had propelled the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the ISS / International Space Station, on Apr. 8, 2016.
AWESOME!
These photos are iPhone 6+ print screens / screenshots
The webcast is posted to YouTube, and all should be excited to see it -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsZSXav4wI8.
These photos... pre-flight images from the Apr. 8, 2016 CRS-8 launch.
These photos... the launch and climb to orbit.
These photos... are the first stage separation - a milestone showing that the first stage succeed in its launch. Next: SES-10 continues climbing, while the first stage lands.
This photo...satellites travel into space at the top of the rocket. To protect them until they are in orbit, the rocket covers them with farings. This image was taken just after the farings separated.
These photos...
Left: are the first stage returning from orbit to successfully land on the drone ship, Just Read The Instructions. The fins help control the re-entry.
Right: the
Landed!
SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, commemorating the historic even.
These photos... are the trajectory of the second stage and the Iridium satellites, as they were deployed.
These are all of the links to the Astronomy Merit Badge pages:
Astronomy Merit Badge - Extra “Fun Facts”
Astronomy - Great American Eclipse
Astronomy - Great American Eclipse 2017
These are all of the links to the Space Exploration Merit Badge pages:
New Horizons - Mission Overview
New Horizons - Pluto Resources
All images were scanned directly from the magazine using the Halo Scanner Mouse - http://shop.halo2cloud.com/collections/computer-and-backup/products/scanner-mouse, which I received as a Christmas present from my mother in 2013.
Regardless your desire to pursue a career in space exploration, it is hoped that you learned enough about exploring space through this merit badge to at least be interested to continuously look up at the sky in awe and wonder, and think about what you may want to explore if you were to go “out there” or were to send a probe “out there.”
If you pursue with enthusiastic interest, that’s great. If you do make a career in the field, GREAT.
May all be better off having completed your Space Exploration Merit Badge than you were before you started.
