Think that you know how today's Falcon 9 launch and landing are going to play out? Think again! With some new improvements, and a lot of learning through trial and error, SpaceX thinks that they've worked out a plan for success, and we're hoping that they stick the landing in grace.
The private spaceflight company is scheduled to launch the next attempt of its CRS6 mission this afternoon, April 13 at 4:33pm EDT. The rocket will leave from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on its way to the International Space Station, for the sixth of twelve planned commercial resupply missions to the ISS. But the big news will come approximately nine minutes after launch, when SpaceX will attempt yet again to recapture the first stage of its rocket on an autonomous barge in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And with a few messy failures behind them now, SpaceX believes that the odds are in their favor.
In its last attempt, SpaceX had some fatal errors that led to a crash landing of epic proportions. Initial weather conditions continued to delay the launch, and when the rocket was on its return the fourteen-story obelisk of SpaceX's Falcon 9 smashed into the platform bursting into flames, which founder Elon Musk would later reveal was because it ran out of hydraulic fluid on its return flight home. This time they have made some changes.
"Since our last landing attempt, the drone ship has been upgraded to tolerate more powerful ocean swells, however, weather at the landing site is looking significantly better this time" spokespersons for SpaceX say. "After Dragon and Falcon 9's second stage are on their way to orbit, the first stage will execute a controlled reentry through Earth's atmosphere, targeting touchdown on an autonomous spaceport drone ship approximately nine minutes after launch."
The drone, merely the size of a single football field, may seem to complicate things, but in reality SpaceX is fairly confident that they have learned from their research and the errors of past attempts. While it may seem like a needle-in-a-haystack situation, some leaders at SpaceX are boasting that the odds of a successful landing are between 75 and 80 percent, if all goes to plan.
Want to Watch it Live?
NASA will be streaming the launch through USTREAM, but if you'd like to check out the SpaceX feeds live from launch to landing, click HERE and enjoy! Here's to hoping that they stick the landing.
