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New species of ‘Falcon’ born.
With 'Fire & Fury' the SpaceX 'Falcon Heavy' emerges from the
massive exhaust cloud of the ‘birth canal’ at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center in Florida following Feb. 6, 2018 debut test flight launch.
The payload was the spacesuited ‘Starman’
mannequin buckled into the driver’s seat of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s red Tesla
sports car propelled to deep space. Credit:
Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – We witnessed
the birth of a new ‘Falcon’ species on Tuesday, Feb. 6, when with 'Fire & Fury' the SpaceX 'Falcon
Heavy' triple core rocket emerged for the first time from the massive exhaust cloud
of the vehicles birth canal at Launch Complex 39A
at Florida’s Spaceport spewing towering mountainous long flames from its
rear sparking the journey of ‘Starman’ in a red Tesla sports car to deep space.
Next Stop – The Asteroid Belt!
The
inaugural test flight of the triple stick Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off in
spectacular fashion from historic pad 39A at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Tuesday afternoon at 3:45 p.m. EST
(2045 GMT) on Feb. 6 generating the loudest roar to space since the shuttles
were retired in July 2011.
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy successfully hurled the space suited
mannequin nicknamed 'Starman' and buckled up in the driver’s seat of SpaceX billionaire CEO Elon Musk’s midnight red Tesla
sports car on a deep space journey to Mars and Beyond as the whimsically gimmickry payload for this inaugural
demonstration mission for the firm he founded.
Enjoy our wide ranging
gallery of photos and videos captured by myself and several space colleagues.
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Birth of a Falcon. With 'Fire & Fury' the SpaceX 'Falcon
Heavy' emerges from the massive exhaust cloud ’ at Launch Complex 39A at
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida following Feb. 6, 2018 debut test flight
launch. The payload was the
spacesuited ‘Starman’ mannequin buckled into the driver’s seat of SpaceX CEO
Elon Musk’s red Tesla sports car propelled to deep space. Credit: Ken
Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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Birth of a Falcon. With 'Fire & Fury' the SpaceX 'Falcon
Heavy' emerges from the massive exhaust cloud ’ at Launch Complex 39A at
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida following Feb. 6, 2018 debut test flight
launch. The payload was the
spacesuited ‘Starman’ mannequin buckled into the driver’s seat of SpaceX CEO
Elon Musk’s red Tesla sports car propelled to deep space. Credit: Ken
Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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Check back again as our
‘SpaceUpClose’ gallery grows!
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Maiden SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket blasts off from Launch Complex
39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 6, 2017 with SpaceX CEO Elon
Musk’s Tesla sports car as the payload bound for Mars and beyond. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
The triple stick Falcon Heavy is comprised of a trio of Falcon 9
boosters that generate a combined 5 million pounds of liftoff thrust from the
ignition of a total of 27 Merlin 1D first stage engines.
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Maiden SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket blasts off from Launch Complex
39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 6, 2017 with SpaceX CEO Elon
Musk’s Tesla sports car as the payload bound for Mars and beyond. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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The three Falcon include a significantly modified central core, to
deal with aerodynamic stresses, that is bolted together to a pair of
side-mounted cores with newly developed nose cones mounted in place of payload fairings.
The two side cores are ‘flight-proven’ boosters that already
launched once and were recycled for the Heavy.
They both previously flew as Falcon 9s on the Thaicomm 8 commercial comsat
mission and NASA’s Dragon CRS-9 space station resupply mission in May and July
2016 after landing safely back at sea and land respectively on the OCISLY droneship
and Landing Zone-1 (LZ-1).
The gigantic two stage Falcon Heavy stands more than 229 feet (70 meters) tall and measures 39.9 feet wide
(12.2 meters). It also features a dozen
grid fins and a dozen landing legs attached to the first stage boosters in an
attempt to soft land all three cores – by land and by sea.
Both side booster landed nearly simultaneously
at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 and LZ-2) some eight minutes after liftoff.
Watch this landing video from colleague Jeff Seibert:
Video
Caption: Synchronized landings of the first Falcon Heavy side booster rockets at Landing Zones 1 and 2 after Feb. 6, 2018 launch from pad 39A at KSC, FL Credit: Jeff Seibert
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The two recycled SpaceX Falcon Heavy side boosters landed nearly simultaneously,
and side by side, on Feb. 6, eight minutes after maiden liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in
Florida on Feb. 6,
2018. Credit: Ken
Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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The two recycled SpaceX Falcon Heavy side boosters landed nearly simultaneously,
and side by side, on Feb. 6, eight minutes after maiden liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in
Florida on Feb. 6,
2018. Credit: Ken
Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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Landings of the 2
side boosters after debut Falcon Heavy launch on Feb. 6, 2018. Credit:
Dawn Leek Taylor
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Liftoff of SpaceX
Falcon Heavy on first demonstration test flight from Launch Complex 39A at
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 6, 2018. Credit: Julian Leek
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Watch
for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of Falcon Heavy, ULA and NASA and space mission reports direct
from the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing
Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com –
twitter @ken_kremer - ken
at kenkremer.com
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Maiden SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket blasts off from Launch Complex
39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 6, 2017. Nose cone housing Starman seated in Tesla
Roadster is stenciled with Falcon Heavy logo. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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Maiden SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket blasts off from Launch
Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in
Florida on Feb. 6, 2017. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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