Officials with Northrop Grumman, the spacecraft’s manufacturer, did not confirm the status of the mission after it flew into a government-imposed news blackout shortly after liftoff. The fate of the Zuma payload launched Sunday was not immediately clear. Launch pad 39A is now being readied for SpaceX’s maiden Falcon Heavy test flight, a much-anticipated launch now expected in late January. The delay also meant Zuma’s launch was relocated to pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station from nearby pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Managers swapped the order of Falcon 9 launches at Cape Canaveral, and a space station resupply flight - which did not use a fairing - jumped ahead of Zuma in SpaceX’s queue in December. The Falcon 9 rocket takes off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad at 8 p.m. SpaceX originally intended to launch the Zuma mission in mid-November, but officials grounded the rocket to review the readiness of the nose fairing that covered the payload during the first few minutes of the mission. Sunday’s launch extended SpaceX’s streak of successful missions to 19 in a row, dating back to a rocket explosion at Cape Canaveral in 2016 that destroyed an Israeli-owned commercial communications satellite. That would best last year’s mark of 18 launches, all of which were successful. Two of the company’s leaders - chief executive Elon Musk and president Gwynne Shotwell - have said SpaceX aims for around 30 missions this year from launch pads in Florida and California. Sunday night’s launch was the first of a jam-packed 2018 campaign planned by SpaceX. Grid fins helped stabilize the rocket’s descent, and four landing legs unfurled from the base of the booster as it settled to a pinpoint touchdown, marking the 21st time SpaceX has recovered one of its first stage boosters intact.Ĭrackling sonic booms heralded the rocket’s return to Earth. Three engine burns guided the rocket toward Landing Zone 1, a target on the Atlantic coastline around 6 miles (9 kilometers) south of the Complex 40 launch pad. The first stage rose to a peak altitude of around 77 miles (125 kilometers) before falling back to Earth. Meanwhile, SpaceX’s live webcast of the flight focused on the descent and landing of the Falcon 9’s 15-story-tall first stage booster back at Cape Canaveral around eight minutes after liftoff. The purpose and orbital target of the Zuma mission were not disclosed in advance of Sunday night’s launch, and the final stages of Zuma’s climb into orbit and deployment from the Falcon 9’s upper stage occurred in a news blackout at the request of the craft’s government owner. government’s top secret Zuma payload was fastened on top of the Falcon 9 rocket, heading to orbit on a mission shrouded in a cloak of secrecy. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket soared to the northeast from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad, arcing over the Atlantic Ocean as nine Merlin engines on its first stage booster powered the launcher skyward on 1.7 million pounds of thrust. EST Sunday (0100 GMT Monday) put on a light show for observers on Florida’s Space Coast. government, the first of some 30 launches on the company’s docket in 2018. Running nearly two months late after technical concerns prevented liftoff last year, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired into the sky Sunday night from Cape Canaveral with a top secret payload for the U.S. Two streaks in this long exposure photo show the Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral’s pad 40, and then its first stage returning to Earth at a nearby landing pad.
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