SpaceX CRS-5 On Way To ISS, 1st Stage Lands 'Hard' On Droneship | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-05.05.25

Airborne-NextGen-05.06.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.07.25

Airborne-Unlimited-05.01.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.02.25

Sat, Jan 10, 2015

SpaceX CRS-5 On Way To ISS, 1st Stage Lands 'Hard' On Droneship

Elon Musk: 1st Stage Landed 'Hard' On Drone Ship-- 'Close But No Cigar This Time'

Even from here up the coast at ANNHQ, the latest launch of a Falcon 9 v1.1 drove into the night sky for all to see. The successful launch, at 044710.119 ET, has put the CRS-5 mission on a solid footing for a rendezvous and delivery of its payload, this Monday.

According to SpaceX, this morning's 'successful launch of the Dragon spacecraft kicks off a two-day orbital pursuit of the International Space Station. Rendezvous and grapple of the spacecraft is expected to take place Monday morning. Expedition 42 Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore of NASA will use the station’s 57.7-foot robotic arm to reach out and capture Dragon at approximately 6 a.m. Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency will support Wilmore as they operate from the station’s cupola. NASA TV coverage of grapple will begin at 4:30 a.m.' 

The Dragon spacecraft will remain attached to the space station’s Harmony module for more than four weeks and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, bringing with it almost two tons of experiment samples and equipment from the station.

All being said, the real drama behind this launch revolved around the SpaceX attempt to land the first stage on a robotic barge, stationed well off the coast, in the Atlantic Ocean. At this time, it appears that the First Stage DID land on the 'Droneport' but that the vehicle was lost in a 'hard landing.'

According to Musk, via a series of timely tweets, the first word was that, "Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho."

Shortly thereafter, we learned that the landing craft suffered some damage in the attempt, "Ship itself is fine. Some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced..."

The last word we have is that it may take a while to see what happened, as Musk noted, "Didn't get good landing/impact video. Pitch dark and foggy. Will piece it together from telemetry and ... actual pieces."

FMI: www.spacex.com, www.nasa.gov

 


Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.07.25): Terminal Radar Service Area

Terminal Radar Service Area Airspace surrounding designated airports wherein ATC provides radar vectoring, sequencing, and separation on a full-time basis for all IFR and participa>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (05.07.25)

Aero Linx: Utah Back Country Pilots Association (UBCP) Through the sharing experiences, the UBCP has built upon a foundation of safe operating practices in some of the most challen>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Anousheh Ansari -- The Woman Behind The Prize

From 2010 (YouTube Edition): Imagine... Be The Change... Inspire FROM 2010: One of the more unusual phone calls I have ever received occurred a few years ago... from Anousheh Ansar>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Bell 206B

(Pilot) Felt A Shudder And Heard The Engine Sounding Differently, Followed By The Engine Chip Detector Light On April 14, 2025, about 1800 Pacific daylight time, a Bell 206B, N1667>[...]

Airborne-NextGen 05.06.25: AF Uncrewed Fighters, Drones v Planes, Joby Crew Test

Also: AMA Names Tyler Dobbs, More Falcon 9 Ops, Firefly Launch Unsuccessful, Autonomous F-16s The Air Force has begun ground testing a future uncrewed jet design in a milestone tow>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC