See the thread I started this morning about reddit posts from people who attended Shotwell's presentation at Stanford this week: apparently she said that FH would launch this December.
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I attended that talk last night. She said December, stating the pad was the reason for the delay, but she still sounded a bit tentative to me.
FH could still be pushed into January but, so far, it is looking good for December. A lot of the work needed to LC-39A has been going on in between launches. Today the FH hold down clamps can be seen on the TEL.
First article: Falcon 9 tasked with Koreasat 5A mission as NASA approves flown boosters | NASASpaceFlight.com
Photo Credit: SpaceX
First article: Falcon 9 tasked with Koreasat 5A mission as NASA approves flown boosters | NASASpaceFlight.com
Photo Credit: SpaceX
I wonder how much service the Falcon Heavy will actually see. It seems it was much more difficult to develop than SpaceX expected and they already plan to replace it with the BFR.
They need to handle things that are already booked on the manifest until BFR is ready. As long as the build changes aren't too hard, the 2nd and successive units shouldn't be as much trouble as creating the first (assuming good first flight).
Right now, since there aren't any heavy launchers out there, no one is really designing anything too heavy. If FH launches successfully then various commercial and government interests can start to build heavier objects to put into orbit. It's the old chicken and the egg scenario. If entities start building heavier objects for FH and BFR shows up then SpaceX can easily make the switch. The beauty for SpaceX is that they'll still have FH if BFR is delayed.
But right now the BFR exists only as engineering plans, a sub-scale Raptor test engine, and maybe a couple of small structural parts that have been built (speculation). I think the FH will do multiple commercial launches over the next 5+ years.
As much as I admire Elon, we all know (as does he) that his publicly announced timelines are almost never met. It’s fine to set ambitious goals, that’s part of how he makes seemingly impossible things happen. But it seems very unlikely to me that there will be a BFR built and tested and available for commercial sat launches 5 years from now.
Year is 687 days long, so 5 years is enough.
Doug....please let Gwen know I will be in the Cape Canaveral area from December 20th - if she can swing a Falcon Heavy launch during that timeframe then no other Christmas present is necessary and I owe you some Scotch as the messenger.
.... and ask her to give us enough advanced notice to drive there from the midwest. 'Cause I'm totally going to do that. This will be better than the shuttle launch I saw 34 years ago. Two boosters landing in formation!
Current thoughts are that the center core will go to the drone ship. Contrary to the early animation, SpaceX is only building two landing pads, not three.
Even if they land all three at launch site, the side boosters detach first. So two then one. Given increase in round trip distance, theirs landing would be a while after.
Speculation:
They may be planning to stagger the side booster returns by applying different boostback burns. That would reduce interactions due to shock waves.
I'll be sure to mention it during the next conference call.
Realistically, how far in advance would they have to announce the FH launch? I'll be back on the east coast mid December and would make the trip down/adjust my travel plans if I had a couple weeks notice.
I'll be sure to mention it during the next conference call.
Realistically, how far in advance would they have to announce the FH launch? I'll be back on the east coast mid December and would make the trip down/adjust my travel plans if I had a couple weeks notice.
Thanks! My birthday is early December if she needs an alternate date. Planning to drive down from MI to watch.
Everything I have read suggests that the two side cores will be RTLS and the center core will be ASDS.
According to Chris B. at NASASpaceflight there is a big announcement happening about FH today. I expect we will get a launch date in December since he is excited about the announcement.
Nikxice
Active Member
That article really emphasizes the complex nature of the Transporter/Erector/Launcher (TEL) system and just how critical it is for a successful liftoff of Falcon Heavy. Once it clears the tower everyone will be able to breathe again. Interesting, the first FH payload still remains a mystery.
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