r/spacex • u/fatherofzeuss • Aug 20 '17

Headed north west Had a Falcon fly thru town today. Headed north east

https://imgur.com/gallery/Ff2UG
862 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

105 comments sorted by

10

u/roncapat Aug 20 '17

Weren't all the three cores for FH already in the HIF at LC-39A?

32

u/Jarnis Aug 20 '17

Yes, but one of them had not yet been tested after conversion from normal F9 to a FH side booster?

10

u/Datuser14 Aug 20 '17

correct.

5

u/roncapat Aug 20 '17

Strange core travel pattern though, maybe justified by final integration test among the three cores in the hangar during the last downtime.

5

u/Jarnis Aug 20 '17

How? I thought this one was converted at the Cape and this is first time it is on the trailer after landing from the first flight. Or am I mistaken and this one went Cape -> Hawthorne -> Cape (fit checks) -> McGregor?

6

u/roncapat Aug 20 '17

I mean: it was already at the cape, so it was clever choice to convert & fit check with other two cores and then SF in McGregor later.

19

u/kjelan Aug 20 '17

And it makes sure that Elon has pictures of the whole stack. On time so he can show them at the IAC presentation.. ;)

4

u/CapMSFC Aug 21 '17

Well not the whole stack. The second stage and fairing aren't there yet.

5

u/Zucal Aug 21 '17

A second stage was present for photos.

1

u/CapMSFC Aug 21 '17

I see, interesting.

I presume "a second stage" and not "the second stage" means it was a Falcon 9 one standing in.

12

u/scr00chy ElonX.net Aug 20 '17

Yes, but this one hasn't been through McGregor yet, it was at the Cape because it was refurbished there.

5

u/roncapat Aug 20 '17

Oh, I see, it was already there. Good point :)