Identifying boosters

[bmah]

I've been reading this forum for a year or so, and I'm wondering about how the boosters are identified. For a given mission we'll learn that it's booster B1051 (or whatever) that's launching it. So my question is...when the rocket is on the pad and you're looking at it, how do you know if it's really that booster? It's not like they painted "B1051" or "NCC 1701" or whatever in huge letters on the side of it. Just wondering...

Bruce.

 

[ecarfan]

It's not like they painted "B1051" or "NCC 1701" or whatever in huge letters on the side of it.

It’s not? I swear I saw an early F9 with the NCC-1701 designation. (Trekkie alert: there is a “-“ in that designation, not a space)

 

[Grendal]

I've been reading this forum for a year or so, and I'm wondering about how the boosters are identified. For a given mission we'll learn that it's booster B1051 (or whatever) that's launching it. So my question is...when the rocket is on the pad and you're looking at it, how do you know if it's really that booster? It's not like they painted "B1051" or "NCC 1701" or whatever in huge letters on the side of it. Just wondering...

Bruce.

Actually there is a number very lightly painted on the booster with its numerical designation. You then have booster watchers that count and watch for boosters leaving the factory. And lastly, you have SpaceX employees that verify the designation at times. Booster numbers are not super secret information that needs to be hidden.

Here are the best ways to learn about what's going on with various boosters:
reddit: the front page of the internet
List of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters - Wikipedia

 

[croman]

Sorry to sort of hijack this thread but I was wondering the same thing as @bmah . How do I identify a rocket while it is in transit. For example, I wasn't even sure what I saw was a rocket.

Anyone know if what I saw was a spacex rocket booster in FL when I was headed to the airport in the panhandle? This was back in Nov 16 2018.

Sorry for the quality of the photos. I was stopped a lot when I was far away but as we got closer the sheriffs were directing traffic and I couldn't safely take a good photo. Traffic was quite backed up but the rocket was moving decently well given the situation.

I didn't see a nose cone on this rocket. It was covered in black wrap and it looked like a rocket booster at least to my inexperienced eyes. Much thanks!

 

[ecarfan]

Anyone know if what I saw was a spacex rocket booster in FL

Certainly looks like an F9 booster to me.