It's a Big Week for Commercial Spaceflight
(Image: SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of Koreasat-5A mission on October 30, 2017.)
Tomorrow, December 12, SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft for a resupply mission to the International Space Station. Blue Origin recently filed a Notice to Airman (NOTAM) with the FAA to clear airspace around their launch facility in West Texas this week "to provide a safe environment for rocket launch and recovery." And Rocket Lab is in the middle of a week-long launch window for the second flight of its Electron rocket, with the next launch opportunity on Tuesday December 12 at 2:30 p.m. in New Zealand, which is 8:30 p.m. EST tonight, December 11. It's going to be an exciting week for rocket launches.
For SpaceX, the 13th resupply mission to the ISS is a significant one. Scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral at 11:46 a.m. EST, the launch will mark the first time Elon Musk's spaceflight company uses a previously-flown Falcon 9 first stage in a mission for NASA. By signing off on the mission with a used rocket, the space agency validates "flight-proven" Falcon 9s as safe enough for government work. The SpaceX Dragon capsule for the mission was also used in a previous launch, CRS-6, while the Falcon 9 first stage came from CRS-11, both resupply missions to the ISS.
Blue Origin seems poised to launch a new version of its New Shepard suborbital rocket in the company's first launch since October of last year. New Shepard is designed to take customers just beyond the internationally recognized boundary for space, the Karman line at 100 kilometers or almost 330,000 feet. The passenger capsule and rocket booster have been upgraded on Blue Origin's third New Shepard rocket, and the company is expected to conduct a morning flight and landing attempt this week. Blue Origin has released few details about the launch, and the company might wait until after it takes place to provide more information.
Rocket Lab is going for a second launch from its privately-built launch complex on New Zealand's North Island. The company is hoping its Electron rocket can successfully deposit a payload of small satellites in orbit for the first time. The Electron is only 56 feet tall compared to the 230-foot Falcon 9, but the mostly-composite rocket with 3D printed components is designed to launch at an incredibly rapid pace - Rocket Lab plans to eventually launch around 50 rockets a year, flying an Electron from New Zealand about once a week. The first Electron flight in May of this year, called "It's a Test," was declared a successful launch, although the second stage of the rocket failed to deposit its payload in orbit. The second launch, "Still Testing," which could launch as early as tonight, will attempt to deploy three small satellites for Earth-imaging and weather tracking.
In what could fairly be considered the second space race, one between private firms and billionaire business magnates, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Rocket Lab are three of the most thrilling companies transforming the spaceflight industry. The ambitions of these companies extends to moon landings and Mars colonies. This week, we should be treated to a rocket launch from each of them to see how the work is coming along.
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