Mission
| Liftoff currently scheduled for: | February 6'th, 13:30-16:30 EST (18:30-21:30 UTC). |
|---|---|
| Static fire currently scheduled for: | Completed January 24, 17:30UTC. |
| Vehicle component locations: | Center Core: LC-39A // Left Booster: LC-39A♺ // Right Booster: LC-39A♺ // Second stage: LC-39A // Payload: LC-39A |
| Payload: | Elon's midnight cherry Tesla Roadster |
| Payload mass: | < 1305 kg |
| Destination orbit: | Heliocentric 1 x ~1.5 AU |
| Vehicle: | Falcon Heavy (1st launch of FH) |
| Cores: | Center Core: B1033.1 // Left Booster: B1025.2 // Right Booster: B1023.2 |
| Launch site: | LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
| Landings: | Yes |
| Landing Sites: | Center Core: OCISLY, 342km downrange. // Side Boosters: LC-1, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida |
Timeline
| Time | Update |
|---|---|
| Mission continues on an experimental long coast<br> | |
| T+28:52 | 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2)success |
| T+28:22 | 2nd stage engine restarts |
| T+12:28 | SpaceX Webcast ends<br> |
| T+08:31 | 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) |
| T+8:19 | Center core landing outcome unknown<br> |
| T+8:14 | Side core landings success |
| T+7:10 | Center core begins entry burn |
| T+6:41 | Side cores begin entry burn |
| STARMAN Don't Panic!<br> | |
| T+4:01 | Fairing deployment |
| T+3:44 | Center core begins boostback burn |
| T+3:35 | 2nd stage engine starts |
| T+3:26 | Center core and 2nd stage separate confirmed<br> |
| T+3:20 | Center core engine shutdown/main engine cutoff (MECO) |
| T+3:14 | Side cores begin boostback burn |
| T+2:43 | Side cores separate from center core |
| T+2:40 | Booster engine cutoff (BECO) |
| T+1:12 | Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket) |
| T+00:00:00 | Falcon Heavy liftoff |
| T-3 | Engine controller commands center core engine ignition sequence to start |
| T-5 | Engine controller commands side booster engine ignition sequence to start |
| T-11 | SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch. FH is GO FOR LAUNCH<br> |
| T-1:00 | Flight computer commanded to begin final prelaunch checks & Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins |
| T-1:28 | FH is on internal power<br> |
| T-4:17 | Camera views from inside the payload fairing |
| T-7:00 | Falcon Heavy begins engine chill prior to launch |
| T-21:49 | SpaceX stream starts<br> |
| T-24:44 | Stage 2 PR-1 Kerosene load is complete. |
| T-29:21 | SpaceX FM is live<br> |
| T-45:00 | LOX (liquid oxygen) loading underway |
| T-47:00 | The whole world is go for launch. see this map. thanks to u/kopps1414 and u/bad_motivator<br> |
| T-57:24 | Stage 2 RP-1 loading underway<br> |
| T-1h 4m | Side boosters have begun fuelling! |
| T-1h 25m | Go for PROP load: RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading underway |
| T-1h 28m | SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load |
| T-1h 50m | Launch auto-sequence initiated (aka the holy mouse-click) for 3:45 liftoff |
| T-1h 57m | Update: NO constraints at this time. Upper Level Winds will continue to be monitored New Launch time: 20:45 UTC<br> |
| T-2h 2m | more 'clock management'; 20:15 UTC<br> |
| T-2h 2m | new launchtime: 20:10 UTC due to 'clock management'<br> |
| T-2h 10m | Aaaaaaand r/SpaceX has liftoff! at 17:55 UTC r/SpaceX has reached 200,000 subscribers.<br> |
| T-2h 14m | wayward wind getting in our way ... new launch time 20:05 UTC<br> |
| T-2h 24m | Another push back to 19:50 UTC due to upper level winds<br> |
| T-2h 23m | Well... This this is now a countUP. New reset for 19:20 UTC due to upper level wind shear |
| T-2h 16m | Launch profile including fairing recovery<br> |
| T-RESET | It looks like the launch timer has reset to 19:00 UTC<br> |
| T-2h 9min | All systems remain go for today’s test flight of Falcon Heavy. |
| T-3h | Still looking good - apart from the traffic at the cape. Be safe getting there!<br> |
| T-4h | redditors around the world are go for launch!<br> |
| T-8h | 8 hours to launch. Subreddit Moderators are at MaxQ<br> |
Primary Mission: Get Hype
As this is a demonstration launch for a new vehicle, the risk associated with the launch is higher than that to which we have become accustomed with standard Falcon 9 launches. As such, there are no paying customers entrusting an unproven vehicle with their billion-dollar payloads. This mission's mission (heh) is simply to prove that the launch vehicle works.
This requires a lot of things to go correctly in a very short space of time. We need 27 engines to ignite almost simultaneously and not blow the vehicle apart with the acoustics of it all. Then we need the vehicle to survive the huge forces of launch, through Max-Q, to booster separation. Maximum pucker factor on booster separation, as the two side boosters will depart from the vehicle and begin heading back to the launch site. After this, the core stage is on for another minute or so until core separation. From this point on, the mission should closely resemble a Falcon 9 launch to LEO for the upper stage.
Secondary Mission: Landing Attempt(s!)
After the boosters separate, they will immediately flip and initiate a boostback burn to return to LZ-1 and LZ-2, a few miles south of the launch site.
The core stage will also perform a boostback after separation, however it will not have sufficient fuel to return to dry land. The purpose of its boostback burn is simply to reduce the downrange component of its velocity so it can gracefully fall towards the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, or ASDS, nicknamed Of Course I Still Love You, positioned 342km downrange from the launch site in the Atlantic Ocean.
The upper stage still hasn't gotten the memo that SpaceX are pursuing full reusability.