The time is finally here! I’ve been following SpaceX and space launches for a little over a year, but as soon as I heard about what will be happening today I KNEW I had to be here for it.
Over the past year SpaceX has almost made mundane their technology of launching rockets to space and landing them safely to be reused. While every launch has it’s dangers, the edge of the seat excitement has eased a bit for some and has lost it’s excitement. Not so for me and I follow each launch with Christmas morning anticipation.
Today they will be trying to launch a new rocket. After being pushed back years and then “6 months” repeatedly they finally have the date set. The weather looks like it will be spectacular and the county is expecting 100,000 people to come to the area to experience the launch.
Up until now SpaceX has been launching their two- stage rocket, the Falcon 9. The first stage takes the rocket off of the pad and brings the rocket out of the atmosphere. The second stage, which is equipped with an engine that is more efficient outside of out atmosphere, takes the satellite or International Space Station supplies to the desired location. After seperation the first stage will either RTLS (Return to Launch Site) or continue on it’s trajectory to land on a specially made barge in the middle of the ocean.
The only way to describe the first launch that I watched on a live stream was life changing. Though I am not skilled in math or science, the technology innovation to have a private company achieve this level of precision is outstanding. I watched and rewatched the video in awe, hardly believing this wasn’t some sci-fi CGI, as the first stage did it’s flip and “boost back burn” to change it’s course back to Cape Canaveral and steer it’s way to the landing pad.
Today they will be launching a demo flight of “Falcon Heavy”. Essentially, it is three first stage Falcon 9 rockets side by side with a second stage on top. The middle rocket will be powered down slightly so that it can burn a little longer after the two side boosters seperate and RTLS. The middle booster will then push the rocket a little further before seperating fromt he second stage and landing on the barge (“Of Course I Still Love You”) as mentioned before.
Since this is only a demo flight of the rocket to prove the concept there is no customer. Elon Musk, the founder, CEO and lead designer at SpaceX has decided to use his cherry red Tesla Roadster car as a payload. Why? Marketing, I would guess. He is also the CEO and co-founder of Tesla, so what better way to get people talking about them?
Falcon Heavy will be sent on a trajectory that would intercept mars to prove that SpaceX is capable of doing it. They will not be launching in a correct “Launch Window” to actually go to mars, but will be going along the same course if mars would be in the correct location when it gets to that point. There are actually quite a few rules in space and there are protections against contaminating planets and moons from objects that could potentially carry organisms from earth.
Check out these photos to see just how massive these things are as well as the payload with “Starman” (NOTICE: not actually a real man).
The launch is scheduled for 1:30 P.M. (EST) on February 6th, assuming they don’t have to “scrub” to wait for better weather or to fix a faulty part.
If you want to watch the launch live or after the fact, you find watch the SpaceX live feed HERE
You can see this cool animation of what the launch will look like here:
Shaking the Cage 
I’m SO happy you had this experience!
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