The Falcon 9 rocket that launched NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on SpaceX’s first crew mission in 2020 launched and landed for the nineteenth and ultimate time simply earlier than Christmas, then tipped over on its restoration ship throughout the journey again to Cape Canaveral, Florida.
This explicit booster, identified by the tail quantity B1058, was particular amongst SpaceX’s fleet of reusable rockets. It was the fleet chief, having tallied 19 missions over the course of greater than three-and-a-half years. Extra importantly, it was the rocket that thundered into area on Could 30, 2020, on a flight that made historical past on a number of counts.
It was the primary time a business rocket and spacecraft launched folks into orbit, and ended a nine-year hole in America’s means to ship astronauts into orbit from US soil, following the retirement of the area shuttle. This mission, often called Demo-2 and launched by SpaceX beneath contract with NASA, ended US reliance on Russian rockets to ship crews to the Worldwide Area Station.
SpaceX recovered the booster on one in every of its offshore touchdown platforms after the historic launch in Could 2020, whereas the Falcon 9’s higher stage fired into orbit with the Crew Dragon spacecraft containing Hurley and Behnken. Then, the rocket went into SpaceX’s fleet rotation to launch 18 extra instances, totally on missions to deploy Starlink Web satellites.
Hurley, who commanded the Crew Dragon spacecraft on the Demo-2 mission, stored up with the booster’s exploits nicely after his return to Earth. He frequently exchanged textual content messages with Behnken and Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX’s vice chairman of launch, because the rocket simply stored flying.
“For Bob and I, that exact booster was at all times fairly particular for lots of causes,” mentioned Hurley, a veteran Marine Corps fighter pilot who retired from NASA’s astronaut corps in 2021. He now works at Northrop Grumman.
An inauspicious ending
Hurley advised Ars he want to see the booster’s stays displayed in a museum alongside the Crew Dragon spacecraft (named Endeavour) he and Behnken flew in 2020. “In an ideal world, I’d like to see Endeavour and no less than now a part of that booster within the Smithsonian or in a museum someplace,” he mentioned.
“It’s form of a bummer,” Hurley advised Ars. However he understands SpaceX received numerous use out of this rocket. SpaceX additionally has numerous love for Hurley and Behnken. The corporate named two of its restoration ships for payload fairings “Bob” and “Doug” after the astronaut duo.
“SpaceX has received a enterprise to run,” he mentioned. “I feel, at this level, actually Endeavour goes to fly extra, however this booster isn’t, so hopefully they will discover a spot to show it someplace. Even a part of it could look form of cool someplace. They may determine one thing out … Folks, I feel, can get numerous inspiration from seeing stuff that’s truly flown in area, and having the ability to get proper up near it, I feel, is an enormous deal to lots of people.”
NASA
The nineteenth launch of this booster on December 23 was simply as profitable because the earlier 18, with a clean climb into area earlier than shutting down its 9 kerosene-fueled Merlin engines. The booster coasted to the very best level in its trajectory—72 miles (116 kilometers)—earlier than Earth’s gravity pulled it again into the ambiance.
Two engine burns slowed the rocket because it descended towards SpaceX’s drone ship positioned close to the Bahamas, after which 4 carbon-fiber legs deployed moments earlier than an on-target landing. Then, as ordinary, the restoration vessel began its sluggish journey again to Florida with the 15-story-tall booster standing vertically.