Human WorldSpace

Watch SpaceX rocket launch Thursday

Image via Spacex.

Help EarthSky stay an independent voice! Donate now to help us keep going.

On Thursday, March 30, 2017, SpaceX is scheduled to attempt a milestone rocket launch; that is, for the first time, it’ll try to launch a previously used (“flight proven”) rocket into orbit around Earth. The window for a lift-off for the Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center opens at 18:27 EDT (22:27 UTC). There’s a two-and-a-half-hour launch window, so it could happen anytime until 8:57 p.m. EDT. Translate to your timezone.

You can watch it live here. The page will be kept up-to-date with a countdown and automatically turn on the live video when it becomes available.

Or you can watch a live stream of the launch on the SpaceX Youtube page here.

This same rocket was used last April to send a Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station (ISS). It landed on April 8 in the Atlantic Ocean on a SpaceX drone ship named Of Course I Still Love You.

This time, the spacecraft will carry an SES-10 satellite for coverage over Latin America.

How big a deal is this? It’s a very big deal, said The Planetary Society’s Jason Davis:

SpaceX’s entire philosophy revolves around the concept of reusability. Company CEO Elon Musk has been dreaming about reusable rockets since the company’s inception 15 years ago, when there was only a Falcon LV—which later became the Falcon 1 Musk proudly displayed on the Washington, D.C. National Mall in 2003. The company’s website says reusability is ‘the key to making human life multi-planetary’ because it could lower costs to the point where sending a million colonists to Mars is a feasible plan.

The Falcon 9 first stage that is launching this week. Image via SpaceX.

The rocket went through a successful static fire test at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Monday (March 27). The Falcon 9 was held clamped in place on the launch pad as it exerted 1.7 million pounds of thrust.

Bottom line: SpaceX will attempt the first reuse of a recovered first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket.

Posted 
March 30, 2017
 in 
Human World

Like what you read?
Subscribe and receive daily news delivered to your inbox.

Your email address will only be used for EarthSky content. Privacy Policy
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

More from 

Eleanor Imster

View All