Falcon 9 booster B1021

Falcon 9 booster B1021
B1021 being transferred from the drone ship back to land at Port Canaveral after the CRS-8 mission
Role First stage of orbital rocket
National origin United States
Type Falcon 9 first-stage booster
Manufacturer SpaceX
Construction number B1021
First flight 8 April 2016 (CRS-8)
Last flight 30 March 2017 (SES-10)
Flights 2
Status Retired

Falcon 9 booster B1021 is a first-stage reusable rocket booster for the Falcon 9 orbital launch vehicle manufactured by SpaceX.[1][2] B1021 became the first rocket to land vertically on a ship at sea,[3] and is the first orbital-class first-stage core to have been reflown[4] in the history of rocketry. This Falcon 9 booster was first launched on April 8, 2016 for Falcon 9 flight 23 carrying a Dragon spacecraft on the CRS-8 mission to the International Space Station and landed vertically on an autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS). After recovery, inspections and refurbishing, it was launched again on March 30, 2017 for the SES-10 mission (Falcon 9 flight 32), and recovered successfully a second time. This event marks a milestone in SpaceX's drive to develop reusable rockets and reduce launch costs.[1][2][5][6][7][8] Following the second flight, SpaceX stated that they plan to retire this booster and donate it to Cape Canaveral for public display.[9][10]

Flight history

Booster B1021 aboard the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship after landing from the CRS-8 mission in 2016
Flight # Launch date (UTC) Mission # Payload Liftoff Landing Landing location Notes
1 8 April 2016 23 CRS-8
Of Course I Still Love You (ASDS) Historical first successful rocket landing on an ocean-going vessel[3][5][11]
2 30 March 2017 32 SES-10
Of Course I Still Love You (ASDS) First reflight of an orbital-class booster rocket[5][1][2][12]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Photo Gallery: SpaceX Launches SES-10 on Previously-Flown Falcon 9". Spaceflight Insider. 2 April 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "First Falcon 9 Re-Flight Achieves Successful Launch, Landing & Payload Fairing Recovery". Spaceflight 101. 31 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 Jason Rhian (29 April 2016). "SpaceX releases 360-degree view of CRS-8 landing". SpaceFlight Insider.
  4. ↑ SpaceX twitter (30 March 2017). "Falcon 9 first stage has landed on Of Course I Still Love You — world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket.". Twitter.
  5. 1 2 3 Chris Gebhardt (25 March 2017). "SES-10 F9 static fire – SpaceX for history books & first core stage re-flight". NASA Spaceflight.
  6. ↑ James Dean (31 March 2017). "Reusable Falcon 9 rocket a triumph for SpaceX, Elon Musk". Florida Today. USA Today.
  7. ↑ James Dean (24 March 2017). "'Flight proven' SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket poised for second launch". Florida Today.
  8. ↑ Andy Pasztor (28 March 2017). "SpaceX Aims for Historic Rocket Launch With Reused Booster". Wall Street Journal.
  9. ↑ Dunn, Marcia (5 April 2017). "Reused rocket back in port after satellite launch by SpaceX". Associated Press. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  10. ↑ Bart Leahy (4 April 2017). "Twice-launched Falcon 9 first stage returned to Port Canaveral". SpaceFlight Insider.
  11. ↑ "CRS-8 Launch and Landing". SpaceX. 8 April 2016.
  12. ↑ "SpaceX SES-10 Mission (press kit)" (PDF) (Press release). SpaceX. March 2017.
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