Vessel Designed To Capture Fairings After Launch

The SpaceX vessel Mr. Steven is steaming towards Port Canaveral in Florida, where it will support several SpaceX missions planned for 2019.

Florida Today reports that the ship was last spotted off the coast of Mexico, where it was preparing to transit the Panama Canal before resuming its voyage through the Florida Straits and up the east coast to Port Canaveral in Central Florida, likely in mid-February.

The ship's function is to capture the fairings that protect payloads from stress during launch. When it is time to deploy the payload, the fairings are jettisoned and fall to Earth. While many fall into the ocean never to be seen again, Elon Musk hopes to be able to catch the fairings in a huge net as they return to Earth and re-use the $6 million components.

The Mr. Steven is expected to support multiple missions this year, including the first uncrewed flight of Crew Dragon, which will launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than March. It is also scheduled to recover pieces from the first operational flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket.

The SpaceX landing barge Of Course I Still Love You is also berthed at Port Canaveral. There is also a vessel contracted by SpaceX named Go Searcher, which sports a helipad and a large crane that can recover the Crew Dragon out of the ocean.

SpaceX told the harbor master about plans to relocate the Mr. Steven back in November. Port Canaveral CEO John Murray said at the time that the biggest challenge will be where to park the ship, as dock space is at a premium at the port which often sees several cruise ships tied up at the piers on weekends.

(Image from SpaceX video)

FMI: Source report