NASA and SpaceX began Europa Clipper’s journey to Jupiter and its moon Europa aboard a Falcon Heavy this afternoon from Kennedy Space Center. Launch was at 12:06 PM EDT under bluebird skies and pleasant temperatures.
NASA and SpaceX began Europa Clipper’s journey to Jupiter and its moon Europa aboard a Falcon Heavy this afternoon from Kennedy Space Center. Launch was at 12:06 PM EDT under bluebird skies and pleasant temperatures.
At 1:11 PM EDT, SpaceX confirmed the successful deployment of Europa Clipper, with the probe now heading towards Mars to begin its looping journey through the solar system.
Europa Clipper now begins a roughly six-year 1.8 billion mile journey to the Jovian system which will include two gravity assists and flybys around the Sun before it reaches its destination.
Once it arrives in its orbit around Jupiter, Europa Clipper will perform nearly fifty flybys of Europa, where its instruments will scan the Jovian moon’s oceans for potential signs of life. To date, this is the largest planetary probe NASA has ever flown, and in NASA’s estimation, Europa Clipper would cover an entire regulation basketball court.
Today’s launch was the eleventh Falcon Heavy launch, all from LC-39A. To date, each mission has been successful.
Today’s launch was the last Falcon Heavy slated to fly for this year and some months into 2025: the heavy lifter has the VIPER lunar rover, the NASA Lunar Gateway PPE & HALO mission along with two Space Force missions on the dock for next year, but this far in advance it is impossible to know when payloads will be ready.
This was the sixth and final flight for the two side-boosters, B1064 and B1065, which one year ago today supported NASA’s Psyche mission, as well as three missions for the US Space Force and one for Hughes Electronics.
Overall, it was the 184th orbital (and beyond) launch from historic Launch Complex 39A.
Space fans in Florida won’t have to wait long for the next launch. Now that the FAA has cleared Falcon 9 to resume commercial Falcon family launches, SpaceX plans to resume Starlink launches from Space Launch Complex 40 overnight tonight when it launches Starlink 10-10. The launch window opens at 1:34 AM EDT and closes at 5:26 AM the same day.
The Federal Aviation Administration, the agency responsible for commercial spaceflight, has announced that SpaceX may resume regular launches of Falcon 9.
The FAA notified SpaceX on Oct. 11 that the Falcon 9 vehicle is authorized to return to regular flight operations. The FAA reviewed and accepted the SpaceX-led investigation findings and corrective actions for the mishap that occurred with the Crew-9 mission (Sept. 28).
Also on Oct. 11, FAA closed the SpaceX-led investigations for the Falcon 9 mishaps that occurred with the Starlink 9-3 (July 11) and Starlink 8-6 (Aug. 28) missions.
The FAA, October 11, 2024
After launching NASA’s Crew 9 mission with Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov and NASA Astronaut Nick Hague aboard Crew Dragon on their mission to the International Space Station on September 28, 2024, the second stage of Falcon 9 separated from the capsule and was later commanded to fire its engine one last time in order for it to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. A specific area in the Pacific Ocean was targeted so as to minimize any risk of surviving debris causing injuries or property damage.
Due to what SpaceX labeled as an “off-nominal de-orbit burn” the second stage used for the Crew 9 flight missed its landing area, resulting in SpaceX announcing nearly immediately that it had experienced an anomaly and that it was grounding the vehicle while it investigated the issue. On September 29, the FAA announced that was requiring an investigation and that until complete, the federal agency would not issue the vehicle any new launch licenses. In effect, this “grounded” Falcon 9.
The FAA did grant SpaceX a license for the ESA Hera launch on October 7, saying that there was no risk to public safety because the mission did not dispose of its second stage by deorbiting it in Earth’s atmosphere.
Overnight, SpaceX announced that it had experienced an anomaly with the Falcon 9 second stage used to launch Crew 9 on September 28, and that it was grounding the vehicle while it investigated the issue:
At the time of this writing, the Federal Administration Administration (FAA) has not commented on this matter, or whether it would formally withhold launch licensing from Falcon 9 while SpaceX completed its investigation.
Notably, this incident occurred after Commander Nick Hague and Mission Specialist Alexsandr Gurbonov had separated from the second stage, and beforehand, the stage had provided a nominal orbital insertion for them aboard Crew Dragon and Crew 9. That mission continues with a planned docking at ISS sometime around 5:30 PM EDT today.
SpaceX’s announcement was sparse on details, however the problem was explained well by Dr. Jonathon McDowell of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
McDowell said X.com earlier this morning that the Falcon 9 second stage used yesterday did not deorbit as planned and probably came down east of New Zealand sometime overnight:
McDowell, who meticulously maintains a list of all launches and other space events, added on X.com, “The most likely failure mode that still results in reentry is a slight underburn (less delta-V, higher resulting perigee). If you underburn too much the perigee will be too high for reentry to occur. So you expect the entry to be further along the orange line but not by too much.”
He added in a successive post, “Here is the ground track showing the planned reentry area at bottom left. My analysis suggests that an off nominal deorbit that still ends up with stage reentry will impact on the orange line somewhere between the end of the white rectangle and the equator.”
SpaceX is known to complete its investigations quickly, and if it is not restricted from launching by the FAA, one can expect them to investigate and remediate the problems with the Falcon 9 second stages with alacrity. The chances, however, of the FAA requiring a formal investigation and safety determination seems high if the immediate past is any guideline.
It is notable that this is the second major incident this year for a Falcon 9 second stage, with the first being on July 11th when a Starlink launch went awry due to a Merlin Vacuum engine failure. The FAA required SpaceX to make a public safety determination prior to returning to flight, a process that took fifteen days.
SpaceX also had a first stage landing failure in August, which resulted in the FAA requiring SpaceX to make a second public safety determination prior to launching again Falcon 9. That took only three days.
It’s unknown if yesterday’s issue and the one on July 11th are related in any way, and any conjecture that they are is just guesswork at this point. Short of SpaceX announcing that there is any relationship between the Jully 11 issue and the one this morning on September 29, no one knows one exists. That said, it is a second problem in 2024 with the second stage of the venerable Falcon 9.
The FAA has yet to make any public comments regarding today’s SpaceX announcement, but it would not be surprising if they were to formally require a new public safety determination for the incident SpaceX described this morning.
SpaceX has multiple launches upcoming on its immediate manifest, including the Europa Clipper on Falcon Heavy, which is planned to fly NET October 10 from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also have the HERA mission scheduled for NET October 7, a mission for OneWeb NET October 1st and a few Starlink mission interspersed in between. As always, SpaceX is busy.
Those launch dates are reasonably in question as a result of the Crew 9 issue, as all are within a fifteen-day window of time, if using the July 2024 Falcon 9 second stage issue is any guideline.
None of that is set in stone, however, and this is a very fluid situation on Sunday, September 29th.
Stay tuned.
The NASA/SpaceX Crew 9 astronauts have arrived at Kennedy Space Center.
The NASA/SpaceX Crew 9 astronauts have arrived at Kennedy Space Center.
After landing on a chartered Gulfstream G-550 flight from Houston, the crew will begin final preparations for their upcoming flight aboard a Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon to the International Space Station, slated to launch no earlier than Thursday, September 26th, at 02:05 PM EDT.
They were greeted by Kelvin Manning, deputy director, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and Dana Hutcherson, deputy program manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program as well as a large contingent of reporters.
After answering questions from the press, Hague and Gorbunov left to enter quarantine at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at KSC. They will also complete a dry dress rehearsal of the mission, will align their resting and waking periods to match mission requirements and will also practive other launch and free-flight procedures that will be needed during the early part of their mission.
Dana Hutcherson gave more information on pre-launch preparations, “Our teams will also gather on Monday for the flight readiness review ahead of the launch. This launch will mark the first time a human spaceflight mission will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40, and our NASA and SpaceX teams have been working hand in hand with our Space Force mission partners. This is a huge increase in capability for us. With two pads now rated for human spaceflight, we now have operational flexibility with SpaceX to deconflict launches at both 39 A and SLC 40.”
Due to issues with the Boeing Crewed Flight test and the subsequent shift of CFT astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Expedition 72 and Crew 9, the two astronauts who flew to ISS aboard Starliner will be returning to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon — a spacecraft neither of the two have previous flight experience with.
This reporter asked Crew 9 Commander Nick Hague when the integration of the two members would start:
SpaceX has responded to the announcement of $633,000 in fines from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for alleged safety violations during two Florida launches last year.
In a letter to leaders of the relevant Congressional committees that manage commercial space activities and their subsequent regulation, SpaceX informed the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transport (AST) of what it labels as “relatively minor license updates, with no bearing on public safety” with sufficient notice that the FAA should have been able to process the changes long before any alleged violations took place.
SpaceX also reiterated its commitment to safety multiple times in the letter. This is borne out by its very long record of conducting launches safely, not only in terms of the general public’s safety but also the safety of the operational launch pads in Florida and the federal facilities they are within.
To recap, the FAA proposed fines for what it deemed as violations of SpaceX’s launch licenses:
Here is the FAA notice of Proposed Civil Penalty sent to SpaceX on September 17, 2024. You can read it directly at the link above, or below:
In response, SpaceX stated that they had given adequate notice of the communications plan changes and that the FAA was unreasonably slow in processing the submitted changes. The company noted that it had sent the revisions on May 2, 2023, that it asked for feedback and progress updates on several occasions and that when the FAA stated there were “too many [changes]” for it to complete the review of the new plan by the targeted date.
In response, SpaceX states that they submitted a greatly simplified plan revision that changed only the LCC location. They add that the FAA failed to review this new plan by saying that “SpaceX had not provided it with enough notice” — despite the original plan being submitted some six weeks earlier.
The FAA alleged that SpaceX did not conduct a required readiness poll at the T-minus two-hour mark for the PSN MFS Satria launch on June 18, 2023.
SpaceX’s reply was simple: there is no requirement in the regulations for a two-hour poll and that it conducted the necessary readiness poll later in the countdown prior to propellant loading on the launch vehicle.
In their notification of the proposed fines, the FAA stated that SpaceX utilized an unapproved propellant farm at Launch Complex 39-A prior to the Echostar 23 launch.
SpaceX states that it moved the propellant farm to a safer location inside the security perimeter of LC-39A (while KSC is secured, the launch pads are fenced with a higher level of security within) the pad area. They also noted that the move had been approved by Federal Range Safety authorities prior to its first use, and finally that the FAA approved a waiver for this move less than a month later prior to the Crew-7 launch.
They also point out that the FAA is “on console” (in the launch control loop) for these launches and despite the company using an “unapproved” propellant farm that the FAA raised no objection and allowed the launch to proceed.
By sending their responses to Congress, it is clear that SpaceX is deeply frustrated at the pace the FAA is processing launch licenses and license updates. They say as much when they say that “for well over a year now, SpaceX has voiced its concerns with the FAA’s inability to keep pace with the commercial space industry.”
Without saying so in the letter, it is also clear that SpaceX is calling on Congress to act, either by providing the FAA with more resources to process launch licenses in a more timely manner, or to streamline the license process in order for it to move faster, or most likely, both.
Whether Congress will act on this remains to be seen.
For those interested in reading the letter SpaceX counsel sent to Congress:
Note: letter was retrieved from SpaceX’s X account on September 19, 2024.
Polaris Dawn has not wasted any time setting new spaceflight records.
During ther first two days of their spaceflight, astronauts Sara Gillis, Jared Isaacman, Anna Menon and Scott “Kid” Poteet have set a new record for the highest crewed orbital spaceflight and 1,400 km, or 870 miles, above Earth’s surface. That broke Gemini 11 and NASA Astronaut Pete Conrad’s 1,373 km or 853 miles record set in 1966.
At the same time, Gillis and Menon became the highest-flying female astronauts, a notable achievement in its own right. The previous record holder was NASA Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, who reached an altitude of 621 km, or 386 miles, aboard the Space Shuttle orbiter Discovery on the STS-31 mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.
Polaris Dawn’s astronauts are also part of the list of most people in orbit in human history, which was set today with the launch of Soyuz MS-26 carrying two Russian cosmonauts and NASA Astronaut Don Pettit to the International Space Station. That makes nineteen people in orbit, breaking the previous record of 17 set in 2023:
Late in the afternoon, the crew of Polaris Dawn released this update:
The two records Polaris Dawn has broken are both long-standing, and both new records are reminiscent of the early days in aviation when new records were set with regularity.
People know Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart for their first trans-Atlantic flights. They are also probably familiar with some of Howard Hughes’ aviation achievements; he not only built and designed record-breaking aircraft but often flew them himself.
There are other less famous names who have set aviation records. You may not know of pioneers like Rudolph W. “Shorty” Schroeder, who reached a world-record height of 33,114 feet in 1920, or Jacqueline Cochran, the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, among many other records she set.
All those people — and many others — were pioneering trailblazers who raised the bar, and now the Polaris Dawn crew has joined that small, elite club.
Their records will eventually be broken — for example, Christina Koch will achieve the farthest a woman has traveled from the Earth when she orbits the moon aboard Artemis II, and some crew will eventually orbit higher than 1,400 km above the Earth surface. That will be progress, and it will not diminish the progress Polaris Dawn has made.
Records are made to be broken and that’s exactly what Polaris Dawn is doing while it’s in space.
After several days of frustrating weather that kept the mission on the ground, SpaceX and the crew of Polaris Dawn were able to thread the needle through a rainy night and launch their five-day mission this morning from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center.
SpaceX plans to launch Polaris Dawn early tomorrow morning from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, with four astronauts aboard a Crew Dragon.
The launch is scheduled for 3:38 AM EDT, with two additional launch opportunities within a four-hour window at 5:23 AM EDT and 7:09 AM EDT. If, for some reason, the launch does not happen tomorrow morning, backup opportunities are available on Wednesday, September 11th at the same times.
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