The block 5 is the last major iteration of the Falcon 9, and Musk said he expects some 300 flights, using 50 to 60 boosters, between now and when the rocket is retired in favor of SpaceX's gargantuan "BFR" rocket, a launch system he says will one day carry people to Mars. "That will be truly remarkable, to launch an orbit-class rocket twice in one day." "Our goal, just to give you a sense of how reusable we think the (block 5) design will be, we intend to demonstrate two orbital launches of the same flight vehicle within 24 hours no later than next year," Musk said. Each block 5 rocket is designed to fly at least 10 times with no refurbishment at all between flights and even more missions with "moderate" servicing after 10 launchings. SpaceX founder Elon Musk told reporters in a Thursday conference call the block 5 version of the Falcon 9 will take reusability to new heights. SpaceX has re-launched 11 first stage boosters to date, but none have flown more than twice. The block 5 Falcon 9 features a variety of upgrades to improve reliability and performance and to make it easier for SpaceX to refurbish the first stages for additional flights. Going into this week's launch, SpaceX's landing record stood at 24 successful booster recoveries, 12 on land and 12 on droneships. The first "block 5" Falcon 9 rocket was hauled up pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center last week for an engine test firing that cleared the way for launch Thursday to boost a communications satellite into orbit for Bangladesh.Īs has become common for SpaceX, the Falcon 9's first stage will attempt to fly itself back to a landing on an offshore droneship after boosting Bangabandhu 1 out of the thick lower atmosphere. The satellite is the first communications station built for Bangladesh in a mission valued at some $280 million, including the cost of the Falcon 9. The goal of the mission is to launch the Bangabandhu 1 communications satellite, built by Thales Alenia Space in France to provide Ku-band and C-band television and data services across Bangladesh. Rocket and payload are in good health-teams are working towards tomorrow’s backup launch opportunity at 4:14 p.m. Standing down today due to a standard ground system auto abort at T-1 min. The block 5 upgrades are designed to meet the stringent safety requirements for such missions. Forecasters predicted a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather.Īlong with helping SpaceX streamline launch operations, the block 5 booster eventually will be used to launch astronauts to the International Space Station as well as high-priority national security payloads for the Pentagon. SpaceX provided no immediate word on what went wrong, but assuming the issue can be resolved in time the company will make a second attempt to launch the first "block 5" Falcon 9, carrying a communications satellite for Bangladesh, at 4:14 p.m. SpaceX tried to launch an upgraded version of its Falcon 9 rocket Thursday, the first of a new breed featuring more powerful engines and a host of other improvements designed to make the booster safer and easier to launch on multiple missions, but the countdown suddenly stopped with less than a minute to go and after a few more minutes of troubleshooting the flight was scrubbed for the day.
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