SpaceX will once again attempt a vertical landing of the booster stage of a Falcon 9 rocket, following a launch scheduled for April 13. Liftoff is scheduled to take place from Cape Canaveral at 4:33 p.m. EDT.
This mission will carry a load of supplies to the International Space Station before returning to Earth, utilizing the as-yet-unproven Buck Rogers-style landing system. Unlike most spaceships that splash into the ocean or land on runways on wheels, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket is designed to land vertically, using its main engines to gently touch down back on Earth.
The Falcon 9 system failed spectacularly during the last test flight, exploding in a brilliant fireball after crashing into a floating barge holding a landing pad designed for the system. Engineers concluded that fins necessary for guidance ran out of hydraulic fluid, causing the vehicle to land at an angle which resulted in the booster exploding on touchdown.
Elon Musk, the multibillionaire head of the private space developer SpaceX, promised after the mishap that the next test flight would include additional hydraulic fluid.
The barge landing pad, formally known as the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, has been christened with the name Just Read the Instructions. That new moniker is now emblazoned across the deck of the marine landing craft. A second drone ship, designed for launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, will have the name Of Course I Still Love You. Both names are from the novel The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks.
"The process for landing the Falcon 9 on Just Read the Instructions works like this: Following first stage separation, thrusters flip the rocket so the engines are pointing in the direction of travel. First, there's a boostback burn to refine the rocket's trajectory, causing the rocket to fly through its own exhaust (the space shuttle's risky Return-to-Launch-Site abort scenario relied on a similar maneuver)," Jet Propulsion Laboratory officials stated.
A set of four grid fins deploy while the vehicle is still traveling through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, directing the booster toward its intended landing spot. Engines slow the descent and landing legs deploy from the rocket booster just prior to touchdown on the floating platform. The repurposed ocean barge is equipped with thrusters to help it hold steady within a radius of three meters, according to SpaceX information.
After the two upper stages of the vehicle separate from the booster, the Dragon spacecraft, loaded with supplies, is scheduled to arrive at the ISS at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, April 15. The vehicle will be captured by the space station's robotic arm, directed by astronauts Samantha Cristoforetti and Terry Virts.
Even though the landing of the booster stage Falcon 9 rocket failed in January, the SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule successfully docked with the ISS, delivering 1.8 tons of cargo.
A Vine video of the recent failure is available online.
