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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 |
Ken Kremer — SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 8 February 2019
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The 1st blastoff of the SpaceX
Falcon Heavy took place 1 year ago this week on Feb. 6, 2018 from historic
launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space
Center in Florida – and spectacularly propelled ‘Starman’ to the heavens and
beyond backdropped by the Blue Earth in CEO Elon Musk’s red Tesla Roadster in such
an unforgettable fashion that’s its become iconic in its own right.
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SpaceX CEO Elon
Musk’s red Tesla sports car in orbit backdropped by Earth following Falcon Heavy launch Feb. 6, 2018. Credit: SpaceX |
barreled behemoth certified the vehicle as the new “World’s Most Powerful
Rocket” currently in operation.
near simultaneous side by side soft landing vertical touchdowns back at the Cape
just eight minutes after the thunderous debut liftoff – in a scene straight out
of science fiction, turned fact!!
the remarkable 1st anniversary of Falcon Heavy-1 enjoy our wide ranging ‘Space UpClose’
gallery of photos and videos as we revisit that extraordinary day in space history.
the 2nd launch of the Falcon Heavy slated to carry its 1st
commercial payload to geostationary orbit – the Arabsat 6A communications satellite
for Arabsat.
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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 |
inaugural test flight of the triple stick Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off magnificently
at 3:45 p.m. EST (2045 GMT) on
Feb. 6, 2018 from
historic pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space
Center in Florida.
Under gloriously sunny
Sunshine state skies the rockets 27 first stage Merlin 1D engines ignited to generate
nearly 5 million pounds of liftoff thrust.
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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 |
The three core rocket generated
the loudest roar to space by far from the Florida Space Coast since NASA’s
space shuttles were retired back in July 2011.
The triple stick Falcon Heavy is comprised of a trio of Falcon 9
boosters.
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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 |
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.
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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 |
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).
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Up
close view of SpaceX Falcon Heavy center booster nose cone loaded with Elon Musk’s Tesla, side booster nose cones and grid fins. Debut liftoff occurred Feb. 6, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com |
(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.
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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 |
watched by over a 100,000 locally and millions more online around the world via
their live webcast. Live streaming video was beamed back after fairing
separation and achieving preliminary orbit.
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SpaceX Falcon Heavy
streaks to orbit after liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 6, 2017. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com |
the two side mounted first stage boosters detached from the central booster and
returned to Earth accomplishing a near simultaneous rocket assisted precision
guided touchdown back at Cape Canaveral at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1
and LZ-2) some eight minutes after liftoff.
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Descent of the two recycled SpaceX Falcon Heavy side mounted boosters towards Landing
Zones 1 and 2 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 |
Watch for Ken’s
continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin,
Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy
Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight
Facility, Virginia.
Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and
Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com
–www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the
KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed on TV and radio about space topics.
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
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In flight separation of both side mounted
booster from the center core of SpaceX Falcon Heavy after liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 6, 2017. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com |
