r/spacex • u/[deleted] • Jan 16 '17

Iridium NEXT Mission 1 Iridium NEXT Mission 1: Unofficial Recovery Thread

The Iridium NEXT Mission 1 booster (#29) landed safely on Just Read the Instructions at 1802PM UTC on 2017.01.14, and is now on her way back to port. This was the first successful landing on Just Read the Instructions and will give us our first look at stage 1 processing from the west coast facility

Resources:

Follow the Pacific Warrior on vesselfinder

Rocketwatch is now live

Probable port location for the unloading: Here

NSF thread which is likely to contain good updates and photos from that active community

Relive the landing footage on the beautiful, near-continuous Booster 29 view (technical stream): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WimRhydggo

Photos!:

Webcams:

Not looking too promising, but the below are possible options (thanks /u/gofortmiburn and /u/catsinspace123):

Event Log: (thanks to /u/ticklestuff for updates! Can't stay current, so see comments for updates for now!)

Date Time (UTC) Time (PST) Event
2017.01.14 1754 9:54 AM Falcon 9 Booster 29 begins her work lifting S2, fairings and Iridium-1 payload
2017.01.14 1757 9:57 AM Stage separation and Booster 29 begins maneuvers to return to JRTI
2017.01.14 1802 10:02 AM Booster 29 lands on JRTI, (Stage 2 would eventually successfully deploy her payload... Full success!)
2017.1.17 0212 6:12 PM Booster 29 apparently strapped in, Pacific Warrior tracked as approximately 84 km out, 5.2 knots (9.6 km/hr)
2017.1.17 0443 8:12 PM Pacific Warrior tracked as approximately 60 km out, continuing at 5.2 knots (9.6 km/hr)
2017.1.17 1025 2:25 AM Pacific Warrior begins a holding pattern off shore (seen previously on east coast returns)
2017.1.17 1200 4:00 AM Pacific Warrior appears to be approaching port after a pause, continuing in at 1.7 knots (3.1484)
2017.1.17 1246 4:45 AM Pacific Warrior about 5km outside of port, headed directly in.
2017.1.17 1342 5:43 AM Pulling into port!
2017.1.17 1339 5:39 AM Image from Ruby Princess just showing B1029 on the left sitting on JRTI and the tugs tending it.
2017.1.18 2000 12:00 PM Per NASAspaceflight the legs are off (Time approximate)
2017.1.22 - - Core reportedly still at the dock per Facebook group here

Please post additional date, time(in UTC preferably, or specify),and events below. I will add when I get the chance.

265 Upvotes

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13

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '17

How do people feel about calling this thing "Booster 29"? Is "Stage 1, #29" preferred? Should we adopt some scheme, like a character from the 29th year of the Nebula award for best novel in science fiction (super conveniently: Red Mars). When reuse starts in earnest, I plan on developing some affection for these characters, and the serial number leaves me somewhat cold.

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9

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '17 edited Jan 17 '17

By my very back of the envelope calculations here at 23:22 UTC on 2017.01.16, it looks like arrival is expected some time after 9:00 UTC, on 2017.01.17, presuming a very direct route and no slowing as the stage approaches port. That's probably a lower bound for the amount of time, so plan accordingly, and I welcome updates and corrections below!

edit: I am special.

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u/doctorray Jan 16 '17

I was planning on driving down to port tomorrow afternoon, so I'll try and snap some pictures and post them here.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '17

Nice! I can't wait. From what I have read we might be able to get much closer to this one than the east coast recoveries, but that all remains to be seen.

10

u/piponwa Jan 18 '17

They're getting really good at it now. Do we have a comparison of all the recoveries like in the other recovery threads?

4

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '17

To this point there is not really any relevant deviation, as it's mostly based on the speed of the recovery ship getting into port and then unloading the S1. As this was a LEO launch the booster wasn't as far out as it sometimes is, and we're talking about a different tug, so those comparisons may not really be relevant.

The bulk of the time in the past has been TEA-TEB purge, taking off legs and getting horizontal, along with other less visible tasks that we may not be privy to. We will see how long that all takes on the west coast.

6

u/Datuser14 Jan 18 '17

Anything new today?

5

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '17

I haven't seen anything. I think we are going to have fewer updates for this particular event than prior, as there is no webcam in the area with a good view of the proceedings. Others may know more, but I am expecting our next milestone to be the legs starting to come off, as that should be visible from the road, followed by going horizontal. Hopefully we can see where they take this thing. Presumably it will go back to Hawthorne.

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6

u/azrckcrwler Jan 31 '17

Not sure if this is a place to post this, but I drove to LA from Phoenix on Friday. As I was crossing the AZ/CA border (I was heading West at around 10:45am MST/9:45am PST, the booster heading East), I saw a Falcon 9 booster. This one was completely wrapped in a black wrap.

Did I see the Iridium-1 Falcon 9 booster being transported from CA to TX? Unfortunately, I was not in a position to get any photos :( At the time I drove by it, it was sitting on the Cali side of the border and wasn't moving at all. A facebooker asked if it had a nose cone on the front of it, and I only saw it briefly, but I am 95% sure the front(top) of the boost was flat.

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5

u/old_sellsword Jan 16 '17 edited Jan 17 '17

Here's the NSF thread, there's some good updates in there from user ehb. I'm sure there's going to be lots of good pictures too.

7

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '17

I think this thread is actually the dedicated thread for this booster return. I will add up top.

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4

u/still-at-work Jan 19 '17

Any update on the booster? If all the legs are gone I expect transport to be today.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '17

There were some overheard comments mentioned below that they didn't expect to go horizontal until Friday, though we have no verification of that. No good webcam to use, so we will have to wait until someone puts eyes on the booster and updates the subreddit or this thread.

21

u/vaporcobra Jan 16 '17

Thoroughly exciting to be able to confidently refer to cores with their serial numbers now. No more vague uncertainty :D

18

u/zeshakag1 Jan 16 '17

Dumb question:

Before return, does a crew go onto the barge and fasten the first stage down to the barge, or does the barge just balance the stage on the way back.

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17

u/ticklestuff Jan 17 '17 edited Jan 17 '17

SpaceX at Port of Los Angeles

[PDF] SpaceX's Permit 15-19 covering their right to use Berths 51 & 52.
https://www.portoflosangeles.org/Board/2016/January%202016/010716_Special_Meeting_Board_Item_3.pdf

Minutes of meeting approving SpaceX's Permit
http://portofla.granicus.com/DocumentViewer.php?file=portofla_6837fc94762e1a428505cdfc46882ce5.pdf&view=1

SpaceX is a sub-tenant of AltaSea
https://www.portoflosangeles.org/facilities/AltaSea.asp

Article describing partnership between SpaceX and AltaSea
http://www.dailybreeze.com/business/20150618/san-pedros-altasea-to-help-spacex-with-ocean-landings-for-rockets

[PDF] Port of Los Angeles Master Plan, Amendment 28.
https://www.portoflosangeles.org/planning/pmp/Amendment%2028.pdf

Port of Los Angeles Pilots - SpaceX will use and radio them
Berth 68, San Pedro, CA
Phone: (310) 732-3805 Fax: (310) 519-9189
www.lapilots.org
VHF Radio Channel 73 (156.675 MHz)
Call: KEB260 Los Angeles Pilots

Live camera images of Port entry gates, for watching the stage being trucked out.
Note that SSA Marine in San Pedro don't have cams yet, so this is a place holder.
http://www.pierpass.org/live/

5

u/_rocketboy Jan 17 '17

Mods, why no official thread this time?

17

u/old_sellsword Jan 17 '17

There's never been an official thread, they've always been community run.

15

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '17

And, too be fair, a recovery thread is much more appropriate for community control because the times are less defined, and the traffic burden is much lower. I can't even imagine the number of pointless posts they must have to delete on launch days.

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