SpaceX pulls off Space Coast double with moonlit Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9 flights

SpaceX pulls off Space Coast double with moonlit Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9 flights

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — A SpaceX Falcon Heavy stood bathed in the near full moonlight on the launch pad, and then took over the light show blasting off on the first of two missions from the Space Coast on Thursday night.

The powerhouse rocket carried the secretive X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle on the USSF-52 mission for the Space Force carving its way northeast into the clear black sky after an 8:07 p.m. liftoff from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A. Less than three hours later as fog began to gather across the space center, a Falcon 9 rocket at adjacent Cape Canaveral Space Force Station followed suit shooting up on a Starlink mission.

The double became the 71st and 72nd launches of a record year on the Space Coast.

Flying for only the ninth time ever, but fifth time this year alone, the Falcon Heavy, which is essentially three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together, was the headliner, and rumbled away into the night with 5.1 million pounds of thrust drowning out the cheers of viewing parties at the space center.

As the two side boosters separated from the core stage, all three created jellyfish-like contrails that glowed as the booster engines continued to burn through their fuel.

The side boosters were making their fifth flight, and descended down past a backdrop of Orion and other winter constellations flashing a series of return burns to make another successful recovery landing at nearby Canaveral Landing Zones 1 and 2. Their return after liftoff brought the signature double sonic booms for each booster shaking windows at the KSC press site with echoes reverberating off the massive Vehicle Assembly Building. SpaceX did not plan to recover the core stage.

With many tourists in town and locals off work, thousands were reported parked alongside U.S. Hwy 1 and the Max Brewer Bridge in Titusville as well as Jetty Park in Port Canaveral and from viewing areas in Merritt Island.

Earlier in the day, launch fans were seen out in force with about a mile backup leading into Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center by 3 p.m. where visitors who paid extra get a chance to view liftoff from the Apollo/Saturn V Center at the Banana Creek viewing site about three miles from the launch pad. Reports on X, though, showed some prepaid ticket holders venting frustration after security turned them away.

“We are working as quickly as possible to get the correct information to all parties. We apologize for the inconvenience,” the visitor center posted.

The launch came more than two weeks since poor weather and technical issues forced delays, but Thursday’s countdown went off without a hitch.

It’s the third time Falcon Heavy has flown for the Space Force, but it’s the first time the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle made by Boeing is getting such a powerful ride. Its six previous launches, the first of which came in 2010, were all on either United Launch Alliance Atlas V or SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets.

Falcon Heavy can send the spacecraft with its top-secret payloads to higher orbits, though, as its the most powerful rocket available for regular launches. A Space Force press release said the X-37B would be heading to “new orbital regimes” as part over the spacecraft’s “experimental test program to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform.”

Personnel attend to the Boeing X-37B after one of its previous landings. (Courtesy/Boeing Space)
Personnel attend to the Boeing X-37B after one of its previous landings. (Courtesy/Boeing Space)

The X-37B’s missions have all been classified, with each mission lasting for longer durations. Its sixth trip that concluded last November with a touchdown at the former Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC lasted nearly 909 days. To date, the spacecraft has traveled more than 1.3 billion miles and spent more than 3,774 days in space.

Sometimes, the spacecraft brings along partners for the ride including the second time NASA has flown a seed-based experiment to study how exposed plant seeds fare on long-duration spaceflight while subjected to harsher radiation than at lower orbits. This helps NASA inform its Artemis program missions its plans for deep space including trying to land a human on Mars by 2040.

 

The X-37B featuring the United States Space Force logo for the first time. (Courtesy/U.S. Space Force)
The X-37B featuring the United States Space Force logo for the first time. (Courtesy/U.S. Space Force)

Just like the sixth trip into space, the latest version of the X-37B, features a service module that allows for hosted experiments with partner agencies. It previously carried NASA’s first go at a seed experiment, the Naval Research Laboratory’s Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module experiment, and was able to deploy the FalconSat-8 satellite developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy.

“The X-37B government and Boeing teams have worked together to produce a more responsive, flexible, and adaptive experimentation platform,” said the director of the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, William D. Bailey in a press release. “The work they’ve done to streamline processes and adapt evolving technologies will help our nation learn a tremendous amount about operating in and returning from a space environment.”

As far as Falcon Heavy goes, its settling in to a mix of commercial and military launches as well as having flown its first-ever launch for NASA this year.

The rocket first flew in 2018 sending up Elon Musk’s Tesla on a trip out past Mars. It only flew two more times in 2019 before taking more than a three-year break, but then began launching regularly beginning with SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy mission for the Space Force last fall.

For this fifth flight of 2023, the head of the Space Force’s Assured Access to Space program, Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, who is based at Patrick Space Force Base and is also in charge of Space Launch Delta 45 and the Eastern Range, said teams had been resilient with the higher cadence of launches.

“Our team has done amazing work to prepare for this critical launch, and we’re doing even more behind the scenes,” she said. “We are honing our processes to make our launch capabilities even more responsive to national security needs.  We are also making our spaceports more resilient to ensure that our ability to place capabilities into orbit never falters.”

Record-breaking, historic SpaceX booster topples on way back to port

SpaceX has been responsible for all but four of the Space Coast launches in 2023.

The final launch of the year was a Falcon 9 at 11:01 p.m. with the first-stage booster making its 12th flight, with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.

Crowds had left the space center by the second launch, and the atmosphere made for an eerie sounding echo of the rocket’s rumble off the VAB giving way to the cries of distant disturbed ospreys and howls of coyotes..

The turnaround set a record for SpaceX launches between Space Coast pads. The previous record was on Oct. 13 when the Falcon Heavy Psyche launch for NASA from KSC preceded a Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral by 8 hours and 42 minutes.

Thursday’s launches were only separated by 2 hours and 54 minutes.

That’s not an all-time record for the Space Coast though. That’s the shortest time between launches came during four Gemini program missions that flew in 1966. Those featured double launches from two different pads on what was then Cape Kennedy.

Those would send crew up in the Gemini capsule on Titan rockets about 100 minutes after Atlas boosters had sent up Agena Target Vehicles with which they would rendezvous in space. The record remains the two launches with Gemini 11, which sent up Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon from Launch Complex 19 only 97 minutes and 25 seconds after the Agena launch from Launch Complex 14 just over 1 mile to the south.

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