SpaceX launched their 41st mission of 2025 this evening from Cape Canaveral when the company sent the Starlink 6-72 mission to low Earth orbit aboard Falcon 9. Liftoff was at 11:07 PM EDT and into clear but hazy skies skies on a seasonal night here on the Space Coast.
A good crowd showed up to watch the launch of Starlink 6-72 from Kennedy Point Park in Titusville this evening.
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk Of Titusville
Around 8.5 minutes after launching, Booster B1078 successfully completed its nineteenth mission when it touched down on ASDS ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’ east of The Bahamas. Booster and barge will now return to Port Canaveral, where B1078 will he offloaded and returned to SpaceX’s Roberts Road facility for preparation for its next mission.
At 12:17 am EDT, SpaceX announced a successful payload deployment, ending the operational phase of the mission.
The launch is SpaceX’s 41st launch of 2025, and the company’s 491st all time.
SpaceX Starlink 6-72 payload deployment announcement on X.com
Payload
28 Starlink satellites, which will join SpaceX’s Starlink constellation that provides Internet connectivity in over 100 countries and territories globally.
Launch Replay
Next Launch
Atlas V 551 | Project Kuiper (KA-01)
Mission
Atlas V 551 | Project Kuiper (KA-01)
Organization
United Launch Alliance
Location
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket
Atlas V 551
Pad
Space Launch Complex 41
Status
Go for Launch
Status Info
Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens
Wednesday, 04/09/2025 12:00:00 PM
Window Closes
Wednesday, 04/09/2025 3:00:00 PM
Destination
Low Earth Orbit
Mission Description
Project Kuiper is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access. This constellation will be managed by Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. It is planned to be composed of 3,276 satellites, placed in 98 orbital planes across three orbital layers: one at 590 km, one at 610 km, and one at 630 km altitude.
Axiom Space announced today that the Ax-4 private mission to ISS will launch No Earlier Than May 2025. No specific launch date was given, and will be announced in the future as the launch draws closer. Commanded by veteran former NASA astronaut and current Axiom Space’s Director of Human Spaceflight Peggy Whitson, the crew of four will fly to ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
The crew is scheduled to spend up to 14 days aboard the ISS, engaging in a variety of scientific research, outreach initiatives, and commercial activities.
In addition to Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, an officer in the Indian Air Force and astronaut with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists include Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, a project astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA) representing Poland, and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. Notably, this mission marks the first time astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary will visit the ISS, representing each nation’s first government-sponsored human spaceflight in over 40 years.
Ax-3 On The Launch Pad
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Ax-4 Mission Objectives
Ax-4 will be a busy mission, as it is slated to conduct approximately 60 scientific experiments and activities involving participants from 31 nations, such as the United States, India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, and various European countries. This marks the highest number of research initiatives undertaken on an Axiom Space mission to the International Space Station (ISS) thus far, highlighting the mission’s global importance and collaborative spirit in advancing microgravity research in low-Earth orbit (LEO).
The mission places a particular emphasis on scientific endeavors led by the countries represented in the Ax-4 crew, including the United States, India, Poland (in collaboration with the European Space Agency), and Hungary. The research conducted will enhance global understanding in areas such as human health, Earth observation, and life, biological, and material sciences, reflecting the space research capabilities of the crew’s home countries.
Axiom Space is also collaborating with research organizations and academic institutions to further investigate the effects of spaceflight on the human body and to explore how space-based research can lead to improvements in health and medical treatments on Earth. The mission underscores the significance of commercial and academic partnerships, as Axiom Space spearheads the development of a global research community and a sustainable economic ecosystem in LEO. The mission also sets the stage for Axiom Station, the first commercial space station, which will provide a permanent platform for research, manufacturing, and human spaceflight.
SpaceX is set to launch the privately-crewed Fram2 mission aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon this evening from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Liftoff is scheduled for 9:46 PM ET, with subsequent launch windows at 11:20 PM ET, followed by 12:53 AM and 2:26 AM on Tuesday, April 1st.
The Fram2 crew. From left, Eric Philips, Rabea Rogge, Jannicke Mikkelsen and Chun Wang, Photo: SpaceX
What Is Fram2?
The mission draws its name from the polar exploration ship Fram, which served Norwegian explorers such as Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912. Fram became well-known for its polar expeditions, and now resides in a museum in Oslo. While Fram navigated icy waters of Eart’s polar regions, Fram2 will explore those same areas from a polar orbit.
Mission Commander Chun Wang, a Maltese citizen, will lead a diverse crew that includes filmmaker and artist Norway’s Jannicke Mikkelsen as the vehicle commander, Australia’s Eric Philips as the vehicle pilot, and Germany’s Rabea Rogge as a mission specialist.
This will be the crew’s first trip to space.
Trajectory
The trajectory of Fram2 presents a unique challenge and opportunity. Unlike standard launches, this mission will employ a polar trajectory heading southward nearly 90 degrees from its launch site. This has never been done before on a crewed mission, but the trajectory will allow passes over each pole every orbit.
As the spacecraft ascends, it will skirt along Florida’s east coast before crossing the Straits of Florida and flying over Cuba. The trajectory will offer dramatic views as Fram2 passes overhead of the Palm Beach area in south Florida before easing farther offshore. For residents of that region, tonight’s flight will offer them the closest view of a Falcon 9 ascending as they have ever seen.
Weather
The 45th Weather Squadron has not published any Launch Mission Execution Forecast for the mission this evening.
The National Weather Service’s general forecast for Kennedy Space Center is calling for a 30% chance of storms in the area this evening. They continue that the storms are expected to taper off after 9PM, good news for a planned 9:26 PM liftoff so long as the timing of the storms diminishes on time and before final launch preparations begin.
Fram2 Scientific Objectives
Fram2’s mission objectives include investigating “unusual light emissions resembling auroras.” The crew will specifically focus on green fragments and mauve ribbons of light, phenomena that echo the characteristics of STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement), previously noted at altitudes of approximately 400 to 500 kilometers above Earth. This study could provide new insights into atmospheric physics, potentially shining light on phenomena that have puzzled scientists for years.
The Fram2 crew will undertake studies to gain more knowledge of the causes and effects of Space Motion Sickness (SMS), which affects roughly 60% to 80% of astronauts within the first few days of their exposure to microgravity.
Its symptoms mirror those of traditional motion sickness—nausea, vomiting, fatigue, general discomfort, and a loss of appetite. SMS is considered part of Space Adaptation Syndrome (SAS), a broader condition that also includes headaches, back pain, and facial congestion due to fluid redistribution toward the head.
Fram2’s astronauts will also continue the work started by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Those researchers are seeking a deeper understanding of the effects on the human body of short-term spaceflights, and the Fram2 crew will undergo before and after MRI tests in order to provide data to that end.
All four Fram2 passengers will undergo the same MRI scans that the Polaris Dawn crew did. This research aims to expand scientists’ understanding of how stints in microgravity, which is known to shift fluids in the brain, affect astronauts.
Additionally, the Fram2 astronauts will study blood flow, bone health, glucose regulation, cognition and other effects and procedures of spaceflight. The official list of experiments is below:
A vapor cone surrounds Falcon 9. File photo. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
SpaceX is planning to launch another group of Starlink satellites from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today, weather permitting. The launch window opens at 3:16 PM ET and extends to 7:45 PM early this evening. According to SpaceX, if the mission does not launch today, then “If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Monday, March 31 starting at 2:57 p.m. ET.”
Booster B1080 will power the rocket off of the pad, and will be flying its 17th mission. B1080 has previously flown Ax-2, Euclid, Ax-3, CRS-30, SES ASTRA 1P, NG-21, and 10 Starlink missions. After stage separation, it will land on ASDS ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ located offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.
At A Glance
Organization: SpaceX
Location: Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket: Falcon 9
Pad: Space Launch Complex 40
Status: Go for Launch
Status Info: Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens: Sunday, 03/30/2025 3:16:00 PM
Window Closes: Sunday, 03/30/2025 7:45:00 PM
Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission Description: A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation – SpaceX’s project for space-based Internet communication system.
There is no forecast available from the 45th Weather Squadron for today’s launch at the time of this writing. The National Weather Service general forecast calls for a 50% chance of showers through the forecast period with light winds, so 50/50 sounds like a good guess.
Since those storms may carry electrical activity and/or potential, the lightning, anvil cloud, heavy cloud cover and other launch criteria may apply, but with no official Launch Mission Execution Forecast available, it is impossible to say.
Trajectory
Southeast, towards The Bahamas.
Online Viewing
SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: Starlink 6-80 Mission Page. This will also be available on the X platform. Coverage starts about five minutes before liftoff.
Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link
For official updates regarding launch times, SpaceX.com is the best source of information. Starlink launch times change from time to time, and the company generally updates their website within minutes of the decision to change the launch time. This is very handy if none of the streaming options on YouTube have started their broadcasts.
Remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.
Next Space Flight an app for iOS and Android phones, has a real-time countdown clock that is accurate to a second, give or take. The app is free. Search the App Store or Google Play. They are also on the web: nextspaceflight.com.
Launch Viewing: In Person
The best free options are available for spectators: Northern Titusville parks on Washington Avenu / US-1 are your best bets: Space View Park, Sands Park, Rotary Riverfront Park.
Local recommendations also say the Cafe Paradiso and Ven pa’ Ca Café are excellent choices for before, after and even during launches. Grab a bite to eat, walk over to the Indian River and watch the launch.
According to NASA, this is standard operating procedure
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will be returning to Earth this afternoon aboard Crew 9 after spending some 286 days in space. They and the two other Crew 9 astronauts, Nick Hague and Alexandr Grubonov will begin their fiery descent at around 5:11 PM ET, with a planned touchdown coming some forty-six minutes later at 5:57 PM ET.
NASA said this morning that Crew Dragon will splash down in the Gulf of America, relatively near Tallahassee, Florida.
Suni Williams waves goodbye to crewmates on ISS last night before hatch closure. Video: NASA livestream
Afterwards, SpaceX will begin recovery efforts on the capsule, leading to the astronauts and cosmonaut exiting Crew Dragon once it is brought aboard SpaceX’s recovery vessel at sea.
As first reported on LiveScience.com, one thing that may surprise casual viewers tuning in to see Wilmore and Williams exit the Crew Dragon capsule is the likelihood that they will be carried in stretchers after leaving the spacecraft. The same may happen with Crew 9 commander Nick Hague and Mission Specialist Alexandr Aleksandr Vladimirovich Gurbonov as well. Both Hague and Gurbonov will have spent 171 days in space when they return to Earth this afternoon.
Wearing their SpaceX pressure suits, Butch Wilmore (l) and Suni Williams (r) post with Nick Hague and Alexandr Gurbonov in ISS shortly before hatch closure on March 17, 2025. Photo from NASA livestream
Talk of Titusville asked NASA for more information, and they replied:
As part of standard procedures, all International Space Station astronauts are placed, or seated, on a mobility aid by recovery teams to assist the crew members returning to Earth’s gravity after several months in space.
After completing medical checks, astronauts are transferred to a waiting helicopter and are taken to a waiting NASA aircraft to return to Houston to be reunited with their friends and families. Then begins the process of post-medical evaluations and reclamation to Earth’s gravity environment.
This process differs for each individual, typically lasting several months, as the longer an astronaut spends in space, the more difficult it is to readapt to gravity. Astronauts returning to Earth after living aboard the space station for extended durations have exhibited balance control problems, muscle weakness, and cardiovascular deconditioning.
NASA’s Human Research Program continues to innovate and pursue the best methods and technologies to keep astronauts healthy during their missions and when they return home. The International Space Station is helping prepare humans for future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars, including the exercise needed to address the challenges of living and working in microgravity for extended periods of time.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members pose together for a portrait inside the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft while it was still docked to the International Space Station. From left, are NASA astronaut Suni Williams, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Butch Wimore. Photo: NASA
Typically, astronauts aboard the station dedicate two hours daily to exercise in order to counteract bone and muscle deterioration caused by weightlessness. Despite these efforts, Wilmore and Williams will undergo intensive rehabilitation in the coming weeks and months as their bodies readjust to the pull of gravity that almost all of us take for granted as part of our daily lives.
All four Crew 9 astronauts and cosmonaut will also receive extensive medical checks as part of the crew return procedure, and will also be greeted by family, friends and colleagues after their arrival in Texas.
Watch Crew 9’s Return
Pending weather conditions at the splashdown sites, continuous coverage will resume on March 18 on NASA+ prior to the start of deorbit burn. As of the time of this writing, the schedule provided by NASA calls for:
4:45 PM ET – Return coverage begins on NASA+
5:11 p.m. – Deorbit burn (time is approximate)
5:57 p.m. – Splashdown (time is approximate)
7:30 p.m. – Return-to-Earth media conference on NASA+, with the following participants:
Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, NASA’ Space Operations Mission Directorate
Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
Jeff Arend, manager for systems engineering and integration, NASA’s International Space Station, NASA’s International Space Station Office
Sarah Walker, director, Dragon Mission Management, SpaceX
First Full Successful NASA CLPS Lunar Lander Set To End Mission
A solar eclipse as seen from the lunar surface by Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander on March 14, 2025 Photo: Firefly Aerospace
The first fully successful lunar lander mission in the NASA CLPS program is nearly complete. Lunar sunset at Mare Crisium is expected on March 16, 2025, and without sunlight to power the vehicle’s solar panels, the operations of Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will end.
This morning on X.com, Firefly Aerospace said
Notably, the last major act of the lander will be to “capture the sunset glow and dust levitation seen by the Apollo 17 astronauts as they were leaving the Moon.” If Firefly engineers are able to capture that rare and only once-seen phenomena, it will be a fitting finale for a thoroughly successful mission.
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. —Dylan Thomas
Sunset On The Moon Is A Very Strange Time There
During the Apollo 17 mission, astronauts observed a faint light near the Moon’s horizon during sunrise and sunset, known as lunar horizon glow. This phenomenon is attributed to the electrostatic levitation of lunar dust particles.
On the Moon’s daylit side, solar ultraviolet and X-ray radiation can cause dust particles to become positively charged, leading them to repel from the surface and rise to altitudes ranging from meters to kilometers.
Conversely, on the night side, dust particles acquire a negative charge due to interactions with the solar wind. At the lunar terminator—the dividing line between day and night—intense electric fields may develop, resulting in horizontal dust transport, sometimes referred to as “Moon storms.”
Blue Ghost will attempt to further measure this phenomenon, as it has only been witnessed once, and that some fifty-three years ago.
This Just After A Solar Eclipse
Two days ago, Blue Ghost captured a solar eclipse, albeit the the first one recorded from the lunar surface — on Earth, a lunar eclipse was underway, and the Earth’s shadow was darkening the face of the moon for observers on the ground.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully landed on the Moon on March 2, 2025, at 3:34 a.m. EST, near Mons Latreille within the Mare Crisium basin. This mission, part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, delivered ten NASA science and technology instruments to the lunar surface.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost 1 lander in lunar orbit in February, 2025. Photo: Firefly Aerospace
Among the payloads, the Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) successfully collected, transferred, and sorted lunar soil using pressurized nitrogen gas. The Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) operated effectively, demonstrating potential applications in mitigating lunar dust accumulation on various surfaces.
The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflectors (NGLR) provided precise measurements of the Earth-Moon distance, contributing to our understanding of the lunar interior and fundamental physics. The Reconfigurable, Radiation-Tolerant Computer System (RadPC) demonstrated resilience to the Moon’s radiation environment, marking a significant step in developing robust computing technologies for space missions.
Blue Ghost Mission 1 cast its shadow on the lunar surface in March 2025 Photo: Firefly Aerospace
The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) successfully received GPS and Galileo signals at lunar distances, proving the viability of using these systems for lunar navigation. The Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) measured heat flow from the Moon’s interior, providing insights into its thermal properties.
The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) captured images of Earth’s magnetosphere interacting with the solar wind, enhancing our understanding of space weather phenomena. Additionally, the mission serendipitously captured images of a total lunar eclipse from the Moon’s surface, offering a unique perspective on this celestial event.
NASA awarded Blue Ghost Mission 1 to Firefly Aerospace in February 2021 as part of the NASA CLPS program. The contract was valued at approximately $93.3 million, making Blue Ghost 1 a bargain providing far more scientific returns than it cost.
Falcon 9 rising off of LC-39A Friday evening Photo: Derek Newsome
It was a good day to have a good day here in Florida, and that’s exactly what NASA, SpaceX and Crew 10 had today at Kennedy Space Center.
Falcon 9 lifted off, carrying three astronauts and one cosmonaut toward orbit and the International Space Station just as the sun was starting to set in the west. Some seven and a half minutes later, SpaceX booster B1090 completed its duty for the day by landing at LZ-1 in Cape Canaveral, 8.8 miles south of LC-39A.
Liftoff of Crew 10. Photo: Charles Boyer
Mechanical issues had delayed this launch, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, March 12th, but hydraulic issues with ground-side equipment scotched that attempt, with the second launch attempt planned for today. This evening’s attempt was literally picture-perfect, and Falcon 9 rose like clockwork after a quiet countdown.
Can’t help but cheer: press photographers capturing the launch of Crew 10. Photo: Charles Boyer, Talk of Titusville
Crew Dragon Endurance is now in orbit, with NASA Astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, JAXA Astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov aboard. The spacecraft will track down ISS, with docking planned to dock autonomously to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at approximately 11:30 p.m. ET tomorrow.
Launch Replay
Next Launch
While not officially announced by SpaceX, Starlink 12-16 is expected to launch early Saturday morning.
Organization: SpaceX
Location: Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket: Falcon 9
Pad: Space Launch Complex 40
Status: To Be Confirmed
Status Info: Awaiting official confirmation – current date is known with some certainty due to information found at secondary sources.
Window Opens: Saturday, 03/15/2025 6:28:00 AM
Window Closes: Saturday, 03/15/2025 10:59:00 AM
Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission Description: A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation – SpaceX’s project for space-based Internet communication system.
Crew 10 Launch Gallery
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvillePhoto: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvillePhoto: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvillePhoto: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvillePhoto: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvillePhoto: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvillePhoto: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvillePhoto: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvillePhoto: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvillePhoto: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvillePhoto: Derek NewsomePhoto: Derek Newsome
By all appearances to most anyone outside of SpaceX, the flight of Starlink 12-20 last week was nominal, and afterwards, the landing of Booster B1086 was normal. The booster completed that landing successfully when it touched down aboard ASDS ‘Just Read The Instructions’ about 8.3 minutes after launching. Unfortunately during its ascent, a lot was going wrong inside the vehicle, leading to its loss shortly after it landed when a fire started 45 seconds after touchdown.
In early reports, SpaceX said the following:
“The first stage booster returned to Earth and landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean ~250 nautical miles off the coast of Florida. Following the successful landing, an off-nominal fire in the aft end of the rocket damaged one of the booster’s landing legs which resulted in it tipping over. While disappointing to lose a rocket after a successful mission, the team will use the data to make Falcon even more reliable on ascent and landing.”
A Deeper Explanation
Bill Gerstenmaier, Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX, outlined the events which led to the loss late last week in the Crew 10 pre-flight teleconference hosted by NASA. “Last week on Starlink G12-20, after a successful landing, an off-nominal fire broke out and flared into the rocket. It damaged one of the landing legs, which resulted in the rocket tipping over,” he began.
“We got a chance to see how the hardware really performs in an extremely off-nominal environment, and that’s a pretty rare instance to get a chance to see that,” Gerstenmaier continued. “The engine [on fire] was fully contained in the compartment like it was designed to be. The fire was pretty extensive, did a lot of damage, but the damage is what we’ve expected, what is accounted for in all our procedures and processes.”
Failure Was During Ascent, But Mission Was Safe To Continue
Gerstenmaier continued, saying, “It turns out there was a fuel leak during ascent. It showed up about 85 seconds into ascent. It essentially sprayed some rocket propellant, essentially kerosene, onto a hot component of the engine. It vaporized and created a flammable environment. But on the way up, there was no oxygen to interact with. With the fuel, so there was no problem at all during ascent. And it was perfectly fine. The mission was accomplished.”
Starlink 12-20 at 85 seconds into flight. Via SpaceX livestream
In the mission profile, at 85 seconds into the ascent Starlink 12-20 and Booster 1086 was roughly 17.5 kilometers high, and about 38.8 km downrange. It had a little more than another minute of powered flight left prior to MECO, or Main Engine Cutoff, the point at which the first stage has concluded its boosting phase and the staging and landing events begin.
Starlink 12-20 Would Have Been Successful Even If The Fire Started Earlier
“Even if we would have had a problem [a fire] during ascent, this shows that the fire and the damage would be contained to just a single engine out, which still allows us to accomplish the entire mission,” Gerstenmaier stated, underscoring the booster’s resilience despite the anomaly.
Detailing the sequence of events, he explained that while the fire did not compromise the mission itself, it reignited after landing due to a combination of residual oxygen, fuel, and a hot engine component.
“Then coming back after we landed, about 45 seconds after we landed, enough oxygen came into the compartment where it interacted with the fuel and a hot portion of the engine, which was known to be hot. And then we had a fire, and subsequently, it blew out the barrel panel on the side of the rocket just like it was designed to. The fire was all contained,” he elaborated.
B1086 post-landing but pre-fire
Gerstenmaier emphasized that SpaceX is rigorously investigating the incident to pinpoint the exact cause of the fuel leak that led to the post-landing fire.
“So we developed a risk. We put all the rationale through that. We’re double-checking. We’re trying to see if we can understand what occurred that actually caused the fuel leak. It’s pretty difficult to determine what was cause and what was effect from the fire,” he said.
He acknowledged the complexity of the forensic analysis due to the extent of the fire damage.
“The fire was pretty extensive. It melted a lot of aluminum components. So it’s difficult to see. But we’re going through the forensics,” Gerstenmaier noted.
Despite the setback, SpaceX successfully recovered most of the burned booster, which remained aboard the autonomous spaceport drone ship ASDS Just Read The Instructions. The ship and booster remains returned to Port Canaveral over the weekend, allowing teams to conduct further inspections.
“It’s available at the Cape. We’ll continue to keep looking [for the root cause.] We’ll continue to keep briefing NASA [on our findings.] And we’ll be ready as we move forward. So, again, I think we’re in good shape with that. We have a good understanding, and we’ll improve our knowledge, and ultimately, we’ll be safer because of what occurred on this flight,” Gerstenmaier concluded.
Rocket Cargo illustration U.S. Air Force illustration/Randy Palmer
The Department of the Air Force has selected an isolated Pacific island as a test site for landing rockets designed to deliver cargo quickly across the globe. The department announced its intent on Monday to build two rocket landing pads on Johnston Island, part of Johnston Atoll, a U.S. territory located roughly 818 nautical miles westwards of Honolulu. This information was published in a notice in the Federal Register.
Location of Johnston Island, relative to Hawai’i and the continenal US.
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Rocket Cargo Program plans to lease commercial rockets to transport cargo more efficiently than traditional aircraft. According to the program’s website, the goal is to deliver up to 100 tons of cargo anywhere on the planet within tactical timelines.
Currently, the information is very generic and non-specific — no designation of launch sites, for example — but one would assume SpaceX has a strong lead in providing this capability with Starship.
AFRL expects to award several contracts to develop this capability. The major solicitations and contracts are expected to be awarded to companies that can provide launch services, and companies that can develop concepts to advance the rest of the logistics cycle (loadmaster load/unload capability, rapid launch clearance, schedulers, environment survivability). For launch services, AFRL hopes to award contracts to and partner with all viable commercial providers of this capability to encourage a broad future vendor base for the operational service.
At the same time, other American aerospace companies also have launch and soft landing capabilities, for example, Blue Origin has demonstrated landings of New Shepard boosters and capsules in an operational setting. Further development of that platform could ostensibly make it a contender in this race.
Rocket Lab has designs on reusable soft-landing spacecraft as well and is in the middle of a development cycle for its Neutron vehicle. Neutron is slated to carry about 3,000 kilograms (28,700 lbs) to LEO, suggesting that it would be well short of 100 tons even in a suborbital setting, but at the same time, it is a point to point rocket by design and could just as easily return to its launch site via a second flight from the cargo destination.
All that said, it’s obvious that SpaceX is the 800 lb gorilla in this fight.
Test Cadence Would Be Relatively Slow
The proposed landing pads would support up to 10 rocket reentry landings per year over four years. These tests would evaluate the capabilities of the Rocket Cargo Vanguard program. The department anticipates that the rocket delivery tests will begin this year. Again, details are scant, but that is how the military operates.
Johnston Island Wikimedia Commons
Potential missions for the rocket cargo system include rapidly restoring mission-critical operations and delivering humanitarian aid in disaster relief scenarios.
In October 2020, Army Gen. Stephen Lyons, then head of the U.S. Transportation Command, mentioned working with SpaceX on rocket cargo deliveries, but the recent Federal Register notice does not mention any SpaceX involvement in the current trials. That makes sense, given it is an environmental assessement, but that environmental assessment does not mention any Starship infrastructure. At this time, participants in the trials is not publicly known.
Lyons previously suggested that these rockets could transport the equivalent of a C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane’s payload anywhere in the world in under an hour. His remarks, made to the National Defense Transportation Association, were cited in an Air Force news release from October 2020.
U.S. military forces are preparing for potential missile attacks on established bases in a conflict with China over Taiwan or the South China Sea. To increase operational flexibility, the Air Force has been upgrading World War II-era airfields in locations ranging from Micronesia to the Philippines.
Officials considered other locations, including Kwajalein Atoll, Midway Island, and Wake Island, before selecting Johnston Island for the rocket landing site.
Area Is Familiar To The US Military
Johnston Island has a history of military use. The US Navy first started construction on the island in the 1930s and it served as a naval airfield during World War II. During the 1950s and 1960s, it served as a launch site for rockets supporting nuclear tests, notably serving as a key base for Operations Hardtack I and Hardtack II and Operation Fishbowl, all of which tested atomic weapons in the relative vicinity of the island. Between 1958 and 1975, various scientific rockets were also launched from the island. Until 2003, the site was used for the storage of chemical weapons.
A mushroom cloud rises from a nuclear test during Operation Hardtack I in 1958 Source: National Nuclear Security Administration
Environmental Impact Statement Required
Before proceeding with construction, the department must conduct an environmental assessment. This evaluation will examine the potential effects of the landing pads on essential fish habitats, migratory birds, and other protected species. Johnston Atoll is part of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, which adds further environmental considerations to the project.
The Air Force, which includes the Space Force, expects minimal environmental impact from the construction and operation of the landing pads. A draft environmental assessment may be available in April, allowing for a 30-day public comment period.
Photos of the aftermath of atomic testing at Johnston Atoll
Starship Heavy lifts off from Boca Chica, Texas to start the IFT-6 mission. Photo: Richard Gallagher, FMN
SpaceX, never a company to shy away from daunting challenges, said yesterday that it plans to launch its Starship Heavy megarocket from Florida late this year, pending the completion of environmental reviews. Previously, it had been believed that Starship would come in 2026 or even later, due to several factors: permitting, needed construction and incomplete infrastructure needed to launch the 397 foot tall rocket.
The reviews are just one of several obstacles SpaceX will need to overcome in order to actually fly Starship from Florida this year. They will also need to complete the Starship tower that has been at LC-39A for a few years, albeit in a partially finished state. Secondly SpaceX will need to construct propellant infrastructure in or near LC-39A to fuel Starship, and finally, if the company intends to land both the first stage of Starship and the Ship (second stage itself) they will need a second tower for one or the other to settle on after its mission.
Starship tower under construction at LC-39A in 2022 Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
On top of that, SpaceX will need to have a mission-capable Starship ready before the end of the year, unless they are planning to conduct test flights from the Space Coast as well as their headquarters in Texas. At this point in time, it appears that is some months away at a minimum as the company conducts test flights of the new rocket system.
All that said, it is a tall order to complete all of those items in 2025, especially at an active launch pad that is the only one that can currently support Falcon Heavy launches. On the other hand, if there is a company that can execute a demanding project plan quickly, it is SpaceX.
You must be logged in to post a comment.