On
Wednesday, after three straight successful landings SpaceX was
dealt a set-back when they werefailed
to bring the booster stage of their Falcon 9 rocket down
on the drone barge. It looked as though it was going to be a good
landing. The live feed froze before the actual touchdown. We were
left not knowing just what the fate was of the booster until Founder
& CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the booster did not survive. The
tragedy broke a string of landings that started on April 8, 2016 when
the Hawthorn, California-based company pulled off the first sea
landing.
"Looks
like thrust was low on 1 of 3 landing engines. High g landings v
sensitive to all engines operating at max," Musk tweeted today.
"Upgrades
underway to enable rocket to compensate for a thrust shortfall on one
of the three landing engines. Probably get there end of year,"
he said in another tweet, adding that the droneship is OK and that
video of the landing attempt will probably be available later today.
The
first part of the mission went off without a hitch when the Falcon
9 lifted
off from Cape
Canaveral,
Florida at 10:29 am EST (7:29 am PT). The rocket carried two
communication satellites into space. It would successfully deploy the
satellites, one for the French-based company Eutesat and the other
for the Bermuda-based ABS, into their final orbit.
In
a press
release that
detailed the mission, the California-based company explained that due
to the parameters of the mission bringing the booster down for a safe
landing would be made more difficult. In it they state that since the
satellites will need to reach a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO)
the booster will be short on fuel, traveling at a higher velocity,
and be subject to extreme heat on re-entery.
The
next scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 will be in mid July when they
will be making a delivery to the ISS (international space station).
The mission is slated to include an attempted landing.
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