Hi, it’s Katrina!
Since being founded by billionaire Elon Musk
in 2002, SpaceX has made several historical
achievements.
From getting satellites into space to creating
a space taxi here are 8 amazing things SpaceX
has done, and there is likely much more to
come!
8.
Falcon 1
SpaceX’s most notable accomplishments date
back to 2008 with the successful launch of
the Falcon 1, a privately-funded $90 million
liquid fuel rocket.
In September of that year, the Falcon 1 launch
vehicle became the first privately funded
and developed liquid-propelled carrier rocket
to reach Earth orbit, finally succeeding on
its fourth attempt with a dummy payload.
Altogether, Falcon 1 was launched five times.
In July 2009, the Falcon 1 became the first
privately developed liquid fuel rocket to
deliver a commercial satellite to Earth orbit.
It carried the Malaysian RazakSAT satellite
which became the Falcon 1’s first and only
commercial contract launch.
All five of the Falcon 1 flights were launched
from the Reagan Test Site on Omelek Island,
which is part of Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic
of the Marshall Islands.
The Falcon 1 was retired after its fifth launch
and was succeeded by the Falcon 9.
7.
SpaceX Grasshopper
As part of its efforts to develop a rapidly
reusable rocket, SpaceX built the Grasshopper,
a 10-story reusable rocket prototype.
Put simply, Grasshopper was the first stage
of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 project which I will
tell you more about in a bit.
First announced in 2011, the Grasshopper went
on for 2 years and was part of the bigger
vision of being able to create a reusable
system that would fly cargo and people to
space, and then back again.
Traditionally rockets are considered “throwaway
items” and either burn up or become space
junk.
The vertical-takeoff-and-landing prototype
was tested multiple times to try to get a
rocket to land on land (as opposed to water
for now).
Test flights began with a simple, six-foot
(1.8 meter) jump up and down.
Following its first test flight, Grasshopper
completed progressively higher hops and pinpoint
landings.
On its second test flight in November 2012,
the rocket traveled 18 feet (5.5 meters) into
the air.
Then, in December of that year, Grasshopper
went over 130 feet (39.6 meters) high.
The rocket truly proved its capabilities over
several test flights throughout 2013.
On various occasions, Grasshopper traveled
several hundred feet into the air.
In April 2013, it reached 820 feet (250 meters)
high.
It also demonstrated the ability to combat
wind gusts and move sideways through the air
to its target.
The Grasshopper’s most successful test flight
in October 2013 saw a height of 2,441 feet
(744 meters).
The flight lasted 79 seconds total and made
a flawless takeoff and landing.
After that flight, SpaceX announced the retirement
of the Grasshopper program and their intentions
to focus their resources on other projects,
namely the Falcon 9 rocket.
6.
Falcon 9
As promised!
One huge mission of SpaceX is the development
of fully and rapidly reusable rockets.
Building a rocket is where the bulk of the
launch costs associated with it are incurred,
because most rockets are expendable.
Designing a reusable rocket will help reduce
the costs associated with traveling into space,
hopefully eventually assisting with the goal
of enabling people to live on other planets.
SpaceX partially achieved this objective with
the development of the Falcon 9, which is
the first orbital class rocket capable of
reflight.
In other words, the Falcon 9 is partially
reusable - the rocket’s first stage can
reenter the atmosphere and be reflown.
The Falcon 9 was designed with maximum safety
in mind and is equipped with nine first-stage
Merlin engines.
Even in the event of an engine shutdown, it
can safely complete its mission.
In 2012, the Falcon 9 delivered the Dragon
spacecraft into orbit for connection with
the International Space Station.
This made SpaceX the first commercial company
to visit the station - an historical achievement.
The Falcon 9 has made numerous visits to space
since then, delivering cargo to and from the
International Space Station for NASA, as well
as carrying satellites into orbit.
Both the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule
were designed to eventually carry humans into
space - a goal that SpaceX and NASA are working
toward together.
To put things into perspective, each new commercial
airliner costs about the same as the Falcon
9 did to build.
Unlike rockets, however, the average commercial
airliner is used for tens of thousands of
flights over its lifetime.
Most rockets are designed to burn up upon
reentry into the atmosphere, but SpaceX rockets
can safely land and refly.
By developing rapidly reusable space launch
vehicles, SpaceX claims that the cost of space
travel can potentially be reduced by a hundredfold.
5.
First Rocket Booster Landing
In keeping with its goal of rocket reusability,
SpaceX began attempting rocket booster landings
in early 2015 with its Falcon 9 rocket boosters.
The booster slammed into a drone ship and
erupted into flames following the first landing
attempt in January of that year.
A second attempt was made in April and was
nearly successful, but tipped over and exploded.
SpaceX’s first successful rocket booster
landing occurred on its original launch pad
at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in December 2015.
A successful sea landing on a drone ship was
executed after three more tries.
Between the first successful rocket booster
landing at sea and the maiden launch of the
Falcon Heavy, which I’ll discuss next, there
were 20 successful landings and just one failure.
The company’s next rocket booster landing
goal would be to safely descend the Falcon
Heavy’s rocket boosters back to Earth.
4.
Falcon Heavy
The Falcon Heavy is a heavy-lift launch vehicle.
By a factor of two, it’s the most powerful
operational rocket in the world.
It has the highest payload capacity of any
launch vehicle that is currently operational
and the second-highest capacity of any rocket
that has ever reached orbit.
The Saturn V, which was last flown in 1973,
was the only rocket to ever deliver more payload
to orbit.
Like the Falcon 9, the Falcon Heavy is designed
to be partially reusable.
Altogether, its first stage is equipped with
27 Merlin engines - three times as many as
that of the Falcon 9.
These engines generate five million pounds
of thrust at takeoff, equating to about 18
747’s.
Originally, the Falcon Heavy’s maiden launch
was tentatively planned for 2013.
However, due partially to the failure of the
CRS-7 rocket in June 2015, SpaceX rescheduled
the Falcon Heavy’s maiden flight for “no
earlier than” April 2016.
In early 2016, however, the launch was postponed
yet again to later in the year.
The delays continued on into 2018.
Finally, after several years of delays, the
Falcon Heavy’s maiden launch occurred on
February 6, 2018.
As its dummy payload, the rocket carried a
Tesla Roadster belonging to billionaire Elon
Musk, the founder of SpaceX.
A second successful flight occurred in April
of this year, delivering an Arab League-owned
satellite called the Arabsat-6A.
In June, the Falcon Heavy launched a payload
of 25 small aircraft for STP-2, a US Department
of Defense Space Test Program.
The Falcon Heavy was designed to carry humans
outside low Earth orbit, but so far, Elon
Musk has not applied for a human-rating certification,
which would permit the rocket to carry NASA
astronauts.
SpaceX hopes to eventually use the Falcon
Heavy for crewed missions to the moon and
Mars.
3.
Landing the 3 Falcon Heavy Rocket Boosters
On the Falcon Heavy’s second voyage in April
of this year, SpaceX managed to land all three
of its rocket boosters for the first time.
The rocket’s two outer cores landed on SpaceX’s
two concrete pads near the launch site at
Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The two side boosters descended back to Earth
almost simultaneously, creating two sonic
booms as they executed their final burn.
A few minutes later, the center core landed.
One of the company’s drone ships, named
Of Course I Still Love You, hosted the landing
of the center core in the Atlantic Ocean.
Good name,right?
Only the two outer cores arrived back to Earth
intact after the Falcon Heavy’s maiden voyage
in February 2018.
The center core’s three engines that were
necessary to land failed to light due to a
fuel shortage, causing the rocket booster
to miss its target drone ship in the Atlantic
Ocean.
It hit the ocean at 300 miles per hour.
For the Falcon Heavy’s second - and, consequently,
more successful flight, SpaceX used upgraded
versions of its rockets.
2.
Crew Dragon
In March 3 of this year, the SpaceX Crew Dragon,
also known as the Dragon 2, made history.
Crew Dragon completed its first test mission
to the International Space Station.
Before that, in 2012, the Dragon cargo spacecraft
made history when it became the first private
spacecraft to dock autonomously with the International
Space Station (ISS).
Since then, the Dragon continues to carry
cargo to the ISS.
As the name suggests, the Crew Dragon was
created to carry astronauts to the Space Station.
The Crew Dragon capsule was launched from
a Falcon 9 Rocket and docked with the ISS
on March 3rd, and returned to earth on March
8th.
Thats really fast!!
Crew Dragon can carry up to 7 astronauts and
includes an emergency escape system, touch
screen displays, and a life-support system.
This is a huge step because since 2010, the
US has not launched any astronauts from US
soil, making them dependent on other countries.
Thanks to SpaceX, this could change the space
game.
Unfortunately, the Crew Dragon capsule mysteriously
exploded on April 20 during a routine “static
fire” test of its emergency-escape thrusters.
Agency officials for SpaceX and NASA announced
on May 28 that the clean-up of the accident
site was complete and that their main focus
was on determining the cause of the mishap.
Luckily, SpaceX had several Crew Dragon vessels
in production, and plans for the project are
moving forward.
SpaceX and NASA are working together toward
a shared goal of sending astronauts to the
International Space Station aboard the Crew
Dragon before the end of this year.
The only remaining task before a crewed mission
can take place is an in-flight abort test.
This is an unmanned mission that will prove
that the Crew Dragon’s escape thrusters
can propel the capsule to safety in the event
of a launch emergency.
Upon the successful completion of the in-flight
abort test, the next planned step is the Demo-2
test mission, which will send two astronauts
to the International Space Station.
1.
Public-Private Partnership
Perhaps one of the biggest achievements of
SpaceX, and space exploration in general,
is the ongoing partnership between government
organizations such as NASA, and the company,
which is privately owned.
SpaceX’s relationship with US government
agencies began in 2005, when the company was
awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite
Quantity, or IDIQ, contract allowing the Air
Force to purchase up to $100 million of launches.
NASA announced in April 2008 that it had awarded
SpaceX a similar contract for up to $1 billion
for a two-year period.
In subsequent years, SpaceX was awarded numerous
contracts with NASA and other government organizations,
including the Department of Defense.
The United Launch Alliance’s long-held monopoly
over US Air Force launches of classified payloads
was broken in 2015 when the Falcon 9 was certified
for national security space launch.
SpaceX continues working with various government
agencies to deliver cargo, satellites, and
someday, hopefully astronauts to space.
In April, NASA announced that it had awarded
SpaceX a $69 million Double Asteroid Redirection
Test, or DART contract.
This is for a mission that will test an asteroid
deflection technique.
SpaceX was awarded another NASA contract in
July in the amount of $50.3 million for the
launch of three space telescopes in 2021.
This and the DART contract are just the latest
in billions of dollars worth of contracts
NASA has awarded to SpaceX and there are probably
many more projects to come!
That’s all for today!
What else would you like to learn about space
exploration?
Let me know in the comments below!
Remember to subscribe and I’ll see you next
time!!
