The Falcon Heavy Test Flight by SpaceX has been rescheduled for 3:05 pm EST, or 8:05 pm GMT. This will be the last notice I post by itself; check back here for updates. Click on the screenshot below to see it live—if it happens.

Reader Darrelle called to my attention that there’s a big SpaceX launch today, and it’s live on the internet (link below). His words:

I’m not sure if this kind of thing interests you, but today SpaceX will be attempting the first launch of their new Falcon Heavy rocket. This is a big deal! The Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket since the Apollo and STS stacks and, if successful, will be the most powerful rocket currently operating. The launch window opens at 1:30 PM Eastern time today. The Falcon Heavy is basically 3 Falcon 9 rockets connected together. Sounds simple, but this is actually fairly complex, and while such configurations have been tried in the past, mainly (only?) by the  Soviets, they were not very successful and were notorious for failures.

SpaceX is of course known for re-using their rockets. They’ve had great success at landing the first stage boosters of their F9 rockets. They land them vertically, tail first, in a maneuver called a “hover-slam.” Instead of coming to a stop just above the ground and then gently setting down they calculate the landing burn to reach zero velocity (or nearly 0) at the same time the rocket touches down. Typical of SpaceX  they aren’t wasting any opportunities with the first launch attempt. They will be attempting to land all three of the “cores” (the 3 Falcon 9 first stage boosters that comprise the FH)—two on land and one on a barge in the Atlantic.

I really hope all goes well, but I wouldn’t be surprised if things don’t.

To see it live, click on the link below a bit before 1:30 pm Eastern time (6:30 pm GMT):

 

The spacecraft Cassini was launched nearly twenty years ago—on October 15, 1997—to study Saturn and its moons. After two decades of faithful service, it took its “suicide plunge” yesterday, incinerating itself in Saturn’s atmosphere. Both NASA and the New York Times (100 pix!) have images from the mission, and here are a few. NASA’s images depict the final photos sent by Cassini, while the NYT gives a panoply of pictures over the vehicle’s history. (The head of Cassini imagine was, of course, Carolyn Porco.)

The sites’ captions are indented:

(NASA): Impact Site—Cassini’s Final Image: This monochrome view is the last image taken by the imaging cameras on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. It looks toward the planet’s night side, lit by reflected light from the rings, and shows the location at which the spacecraft would enter the planet’s atmosphere hours later.

(NASA): Enceladus setting behind Saturn:

(NASA) The “final ringscape”:

Here’s NASA’s video, accompanied by mournful music, of the last pictures transmitted by Cassini. I have to say, this self-destructive plunge into Saturn is saddening, even though it’s a machine : it’s almost as if a friend we’d known for a long time suddenly died. But that machine carried with it the best of humanity—an insatiable curiosity and the brainpower to satisfy it.

The rest of the photos are from the NYT, with their captions:

Cassini arrives at Saturn. Cassini arrived at Saturn in 2004, after a seven-year voyage. It was the first spacecraft to orbit the ringed planet.

Northern winter. Like Earth, Saturn has a tilted axis. Cassini arrived in the depths of northern winter, with Saturn’s rings tipped up and its north pole in darkness.

A yearlong storm. The change in seasons brought a huge storm that wrapped around Saturn’s northern hemisphere. Cassini detected lightning deep within the planet.

 A detailed view of the B ring.

For 13 years, Cassini joined the intricate dance of Saturn’s 62 moons.

The moons Rhea and Epimetheus.

But of all of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus was the most surprising.

The icy crust of Enceladus encases an ocean of water, dotted with hydrothermal vents and warmed by the stretching and squeezing of Saturn’s gravity.

Cassini flew through the plumes many times. The spacecraft’s instruments detected several molecules associated with life, but were not designed to search for microbes.

Geysers erupting during a Cassini flyby.

Spray from Enceladus forms Saturn’s diffuse E ring.

The Times has a gazillion more pictures, including many of Saturn’s moons. Go have a look.

 

UPDATE: As you saw if you watched, they aborted the launch for today because of technical issues. If it goes up tomorrow, it will be at 9:38 a.m. EST.

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In about one hour and twenty minutes from this posting, SpaceX is launching a supply rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Launch estimated at 10:01 a.m. EST in the US). If it goes as scheduled, you can watch it live below. Here are the details from the YouTube site

SpaceX is targeting a late morning launch of its tenth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-10) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is on Saturday, February 18 at 10:01 a.m. EST, with a backup launch opportunity at 9:38 a.m. EST on Sunday, February 19. Dragon will separate from Falcon 9’s second stage about 10 minutes after liftoff and attach to the station roughly two days later.

The CRS-10 mission will be SpaceX’s first launch from historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. Following stage separation, the first stage of Falcon 9 will attempt to land at SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.