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Fantastic launch. Complete success on all the main launch goals. Successful ASDS recovery. The only thing remaining is the berthing the Dragon and whatever the secret second stage test is about (NRO test).
Cool shot of Dragon with solar panels deployed from the second stage was something new.
Cool shot of Dragon with solar panels deployed from the second stage was something new.
e-FTW
New electron smell
Falcon 9 cargo mission for NASA demonstrated long-duration coast required by U.S. Air Force - SpaceNews.com
Quote: “The upper stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 mission to the International Space Station Dec. 5 successfully performed a six-hour coast and a deorbit burn, a test that had been requested by the U.S. Air Force to demonstrate the vehicle can deliver national security payloads directly to geosynchronous Earth orbit. “I got a thumbs up this morning,” SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell told reporters Dec. 6 during a media roundtable at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne.”
Quote: “The upper stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 mission to the International Space Station Dec. 5 successfully performed a six-hour coast and a deorbit burn, a test that had been requested by the U.S. Air Force to demonstrate the vehicle can deliver national security payloads directly to geosynchronous Earth orbit. “I got a thumbs up this morning,” SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell told reporters Dec. 6 during a media roundtable at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne.”
e-FTW
New electron smell
Good details here as well: Falcon 9 performs extended mission in test for future U.S. military launches – Spaceflight Now
“A SpaceX official said Friday that engineers added baffles to the second stage tanks to help prevent liquid propellant from pooling on the tank walls. The official said SpaceX’s earlier long-duration coast demonstrations, such as the STP-2 mission on the Falcon Heavy, proved the upper stage could perform maneuvers over several hours, but that engineers did not quite see the results they desired.”
