A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted launched the U.S. Space Force called USSF-62 mission from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Credit: SpaceX
Credit: SpaceX
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition.
00:14And a liftoff, Falcon 9, go U.S. Missile 62, go SpaceX.
00:20Vehicle is pitching downrange.
00:266-1 chamber pressure nominal.
00:56T-plus 40 seconds into flight. Falcon 9 on its way.
01:00Power and telemetry are nominal.
01:01With U.S. Space Force 62.
01:03Good callouts there. Power and telemetry nominal.
01:06Propulsion is nominal. We're into the throttle bucket.
01:10We're throttling down the nine Merlin engines.
01:12We prepare for the period of maximum dynamic stress coming up in about 10 seconds.
01:16Falcon 9, supersonic.
01:19Faster than a speeding bullet, we've gone supersonic.
01:29Max Q.
01:30Max Q callout. We're through the period of maximum stress on the vehicle.
01:34We have throttled the Merlin engines back up to full power.
01:40Now coming up, we're going to have four events.
01:46We're going to get main engine cut off. All nine Merlins will shut off.
01:50We'll then get stage separation, where the first stage pushes itself away from the second stage.
01:55And then the second stage engine will start a few seconds later.
01:58A Merlin vacuum engine on stage two will ignite.
02:01And that will boost the payload into low Earth orbit.
02:07We will then have a, same time, the boost back burn start.
02:11Falcon 9's first stage is going to ignite three engines,
02:14orient itself and start to head back to land on land, right back in Vandenberg next to where it lifted off.
02:26Coming up on main engine cut off.
02:42Stage separation confirmed.
02:48And back ignition.
02:51Stage one boost back start up.
02:54You've seen it, the first stage heading away under the power of its three engines.
02:58The second stage vacuum engine is lit for second stage engine start one.
03:03A nice view there of the Vandenberg coastline.
03:06A little bit of the white contrail visible from where we left Earth on slick floor east.
03:13The first stage boost back continuing. That will go for another half a minute.
03:17We're coming up on fairing deployment next.
03:22Fairing separation confirmed.
03:26We've got call out that the fairing has successfully separated.
03:30You're looking right now a view. The first stage continues under the power of three Merlin engines.
03:36It will continue to rise towards Apogee before descending back down towards the landing zone at Vandenberg.
03:42Second stage, meanwhile, in the middle of its six minute burn on its way into the parking orbit.
03:49Stage one boost back shut down.
03:52All right, we've had a successful boost back burn. We've shut down the three engines.
03:57The stage nitrogen thrusters now beginning to reorient the first stage.
04:02And the flight computer has commanded the large titanium grid fins to slowly begin deploying now that the boost back burn is over.
04:10So right now we've had a great launch. First stage has done its job so far. It's on the way back.
04:17Second stage is running at full power. We're getting great views from space.
04:22And we're getting ready now for first stage to come back to landing zone.
04:26Anikos, why don't you take us through the sequence of events we've got coming up?
04:31Thanks, John. You are watching a live webcast for USSF 62.
04:37We are delivering a payload that is part of Space Based Environmental Monitoring S.B.E.M. system,
04:43which works with civil and international partners to achieve their mission of delivering environmental and tactical intelligence to warfighters.
04:51Today, we will be attempting to recover the Falcon 9 back on land at landing zone four.
04:57And in just a few minutes, the booster will execute an entry burn. And following that will be the landing burn.
05:03Both burns are meant to slow the booster down rapidly just before landing.
05:08And if we do have a successful landing today, that will mark the 279th landing of a Falcon 9 booster.
05:17And again, as I mentioned, in order to make its way back to land, Falcon 9 does have two more burns to execute.
05:22The next one coming up is the entry burn, where three of the Merlin engines will reignite.
05:28And this just helps to slow the stage down as it reenters the upper parts of the Earth's atmosphere.
05:35And then the final burn for the first stage is the landing burn.
05:38And that's a single engine burn, which will bring the vehicle speed down very rapidly in order to softly touchdown back on Earth.
05:48Falcon 9 is equipped with four hypersonic grid fins positioned near the top of the first stage.
05:54And during this portion of flight, stage one is using nothing but the grid fins for steering as it returns to Earth.
06:01And these grid fins orient the rocket during reentry, and they help to guide the rocket during its descent.
06:08Now, currently we are seeing a view of the second stage, but occasionally you will see on the first stage nitrogen gas bursts for attitude control,
06:16which you can see there now on the left side of your screen.
06:19And these are basically used to position the vehicle as it heads back towards land.
06:26Stage one entry burn startup.
06:29And there's confirmation we have just lit three of the Merlin 1D engines on the first stage.
06:34You can see now we are rapidly slowing the vehicle down as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.
06:39And this burn should last just around 20 seconds.
06:45Stage one entry burn shutdown.
06:48And there we go. There's confirmation of shutdown of the entry burn on the first stage.
06:54The Falcon 9 first stage is also equipped with four landing legs, and those are made out of state-of-the-art carbon fiber with an aluminum honeycomb.
07:01And they are placed symmetrically around the base of the rocket, and they will deploy just prior.
07:08Those legs will deploy just prior to landing.
07:11Speaking of landing, we are just about 60 seconds away from that.
07:15We are traveling over 2,000 kilometers per hour.
07:18This really puts into perspective the deceleration.
07:21In the span of just less than a minute, we will have reduced from twice the speed of a jet all the way down to zero.
07:28You just heard that call out. Stage one is now traveling slower than the speed of sound as it heads towards land.
07:35We can see the California coast just below there on the left side of your screen.
07:39Heading back towards landing zone four.
07:43There you go. Wow. Great tracking shot of that landing burn.
07:46You can see that center E9 engine has now lit.
07:49We are slowing the vehicle down very rapidly.
07:54Should be seeing those landing legs deploy any second now.
08:02Stage one landing leg deploy.
08:11Stage one landing confirmed.
08:13And there you have it.
08:15We have successfully made the 279th landing of an orbital class rocket.
08:20Stage two FTS is safe.
08:22Coming up next, we will have the second stage engine cutoff or SECO-1.
08:27And following that, we will enter into just about a 40-minute coast phase as the vehicle ascends to its target orbit.
08:37On your screen now is a live view of the EMVAC engine continuing its burn.
08:46EMVAC shutdown.
08:49And there we go. Just had confirmation of EMVAC shutdown.
08:52So with that, we are going to head into the coast phase.