Photo: Michael Seeley/WeReportSpace.com
On February 6, the first ever heavy-lift launch vehicle with landing-capable boosters took off from launchpad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. It was called the Falcon Heavy, and it was made up of three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together, on top of which sat a capsule carrying a Tesla Roadster.
A few minutes after liftoff, the world witnessed the return of the boosters for the first time in history. Two of them, the side ones, made it back and landed in perfect sync on pads at the Kennedy Center, while the third, the center booster, missed its sea-based drone target and crashed into the sea.
This week, visitors to the Kennedy Space Center are treated with a close-up look at one of the side boosters from the historic launch. Displayed on its side near the space shuttle Atlantis exhibit, the booster wears the scars it got on its flight, having lost its pure whiteness to a more burned-metallic hue. The glamour still remains, though, as seen in this photo taken by Michael Seeley of WeReportSpace.com.
The landing of the two side boosters was a world first. Alone, the Falcon 9 boosters have landed after launch before, but never two of them at the same time.
As for the third, data at the time of its disappearance suggested that only one of the three deceleration engines fired, causing it to crash into the sea at an estimated 300 mph.
Elon Musk later revealed that there was not “enough ignition fluid to light the outer two engines after several three engines relight,” causing the booster to come back down at much greater speeds.
Currently, the Tesla Roadster that left Earth aboard the Falcon Heavy is over 2.66 million miles away, moving at a speed of 70,979 mph (114,229 km/h). According to Whereisroadster.com, by now Space Oddity would have been played through the car’s sound system 3,936 times.
This week, visitors to the Kennedy Space Center are treated with a close-up look at one of the side boosters from the historic launch. Displayed on its side near the space shuttle Atlantis exhibit, the booster wears the scars it got on its flight, having lost its pure whiteness to a more burned-metallic hue. The glamour still remains, though, as seen in this photo taken by Michael Seeley of WeReportSpace.com.
The landing of the two side boosters was a world first. Alone, the Falcon 9 boosters have landed after launch before, but never two of them at the same time.
As for the third, data at the time of its disappearance suggested that only one of the three deceleration engines fired, causing it to crash into the sea at an estimated 300 mph.
Elon Musk later revealed that there was not “enough ignition fluid to light the outer two engines after several three engines relight,” causing the booster to come back down at much greater speeds.
Currently, the Tesla Roadster that left Earth aboard the Falcon Heavy is over 2.66 million miles away, moving at a speed of 70,979 mph (114,229 km/h). According to Whereisroadster.com, by now Space Oddity would have been played through the car’s sound system 3,936 times.
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