SpaceX provided quite the show at 2:40am this morning — the infrared tracking cam makes it look like an X-ray. This is just before the final landing burn, and you can see how the grid fins are almost as hot as the engine bells. And the dark part of the shaft is the liquid oxygen tank, keeping it way cool.
From the video feed, which has many incredible scenes like this.
This was the most complicated SpaceX launch to date. The side boosters previously flew in April of this year, making this the first “flight-proven” Falcon Heavy launch. They were both recovered on land to fly again. The carbon fiber fairing was also guided back to a precise landing on the ship formerly known as Mr. Steven, a first. The upper stage placed 24 separate spacecraft in three different orbits. The spacecraft include the Air Force Research Laboratory Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) satellite; the NOAA-sponsored Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC-2) constellation; four NASA experiments; and many other missions (payload details)
Leave a Reply