First flight of Falcon 9 Dragon On 4 June 2010, the first Falcon 9 launch successfully placed a test payload into the intended orbit. The roll stopped before the craft reached the top of the tower, but the second stage began to roll near the end of its burn,
COTS demonstration flights Second launch of Falcon 9 was
COTS Demo Flight 1, which placed an operational
Dragon capsule in a roughly orbit on 8 December 2010, The capsule re-entered the atmosphere after two orbits, allowing testing for the pressure vessel integrity, attitude control using the
Draco thrusters, telemetry, guidance, navigation, control systems, and the
PICA-X heat shield, and intended to test the parachutes at speed. The capsule was recovered off the coast of Mexico and then placed on display at SpaceX headquarters. The remaining objectives of the
NASA COTS qualification program were combined into a single
Dragon C2+ mission, on the condition that all milestones would be validated in space before
berthing Dragon to the ISS. The Dragon capsule was propelled to orbit on 22 May, and for the next days tested its positioning system, solar panels,
grapple fixture, proximity navigation sensors, and its rendezvous capabilities at safe distances. After a final hold position at away from the
Harmony docking port on 25 May, it was grabbed with
the station's robotic arm (Canadarm2), and eventually, the hatch was opened on 26 May. It was released on 31 May and successfully completed all the return procedures, and the recovered Dragon C2+ capsule is now on display at
Kennedy Space Center. Falcon 9 and Dragon thus became the first fully commercially developed launcher to deliver a payload to the International Space Station, paving the way for SpaceX and NASA to sign the first
Commercial Resupply Services agreement for 12 cargo deliveries.
CRS-1 berthed to the
International Space Station (ISS) on 14 October 2012, photographed from the
Cupola. First operational cargo resupply mission to ISS, the fourth flight of Falcon 9, was launched on 7 October 2012. At 76 seconds after liftoff, engine 1 of the first stage suffered a loss of pressure which caused an automatic shutdown of that engine, but the remaining eight first-stage engines continued to burn and the Dragon capsule reached orbit successfully and thus demonstrated the rocket's "engine out" capability in flight. Due to ISS visiting vehicle safety rules, at NASA's request, the secondary payload Orbcomm-2 was released into a lower-than-intended orbit. Despite the incident, Orbcomm said they gathered useful test data from the mission and planned to send more satellites via SpaceX,). SpaceX performed its first, demonstration flight of this version on 29 September 2013, with
CASSIOPE as a primary payload. This had a payload mass that is very small relative to the rocket's capability, and was launched at a discounted rate, approximately 20% of the normal published price. Performance was nominal until T+140 seconds into launch when a cloud of white vapor appeared, followed by rapid loss of second-stage
LOX tank pressure. The booster continued on its trajectory until complete vehicle breakup at T+150 seconds. The Dragon capsule was ejected from the disintegrating rocket and continued transmitting data until impact with the ocean. SpaceX officials stated that the capsule could have been recovered if the parachutes had deployed; however, the Dragon software did not include any provisions for parachute deployment in this situation. NASA's independent accident investigation into the loss of SpaceX CRS-7 found that the failure of the strut which led to the breakup of the Falcon-9 represented a design error. Specifically, that industrial grade stainless steel had been used in a critical load path under cryogenic conditions and flight conditions, without additional part screening, and without regard to manufacturer recommendations.
Full-thrust version and first booster landings historic
first-stage landing at
CCSFS Landing Zone 1, 22 December 2015, After pausing launches for months, SpaceX launched on 22 December 2015, the highly anticipated return-to-flight mission after the loss of
CRS-7. This launch inaugurated a new
Falcon 9 Full Thrust version (also initially termed Block 3 the first stage performed a
controlled-descent and landing test for the eighth time, SpaceX attempted to land the booster on land for the first time. It managed to return the first stage successfully to the
Landing Zone 1 at
Cape Canaveral, marking the first successful recovery of a rocket first stage that launched a payload to orbit. After recovery,
the first stage booster performed further ground tests and then was put on permanent display outside SpaceX's headquarters in
Hawthorne, California. This was the fourth attempt to land on a drone ship, as part of the company's experimental controlled-descent and landing tests.
Loss of AMOS-6 on the launch pad On 1 September 2016, the 29th Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launchpad while propellant was being loaded for a routine pre-launch static fire test. The payload, Israeli satellite
AMOS-6, partly commissioned by
Facebook, was destroyed with the launcher. On 2 January 2017, SpaceX released an official statement indicating that the cause of the failure was a buckled liner in several of the
COPV tanks, causing perforations that allowed liquid and/or solid oxygen to accumulate underneath the COPVs carbon strands, which were subsequently ignited possibly due to friction of breaking strands. Due to the classified nature of the mission, no further official information is expected. Both side boosters landed nearly simultaneously after a ten-minute flight. The central core failed to land on a
floating platform at sea.
Maiden flight Crew Dragon and first crewed flight On 2 March 2019, SpaceX launched its first orbital flight of
Dragon 2 (Crew Dragon). It was an uncrewed mission to the
International Space Station. The Dragon contained a mannequin named Ripley which was equipped with multiple sensors to gather data about how a human would feel during the flight. Along with the mannequin was 300 pounds of cargo of food and other supplies. Also on board was Earth plush toy referred to as a 'super high tech zero-g indicator'. The toy became a hit with astronaut
Anne McClain who showed the plushy on the ISS each day and also deciding to keep it on board to experience the crewed
SpX-DM2. The Dragon spent six days in space including five docked to the International Space Station. During the time, various systems were tested to make sure the vehicle was ready for US astronauts
Doug Hurley and
Bob Behnken to fly in it in 2020. The Dragon undocked and performed a re-entry burn before splashing down on 8 March 2019, at 08:45 EST, off the coast of Florida. SpaceX held a successful launch of the first commercial orbital human space flight on 30 May 2020, crewed with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. Both astronauts focused on conducting tests on the Crew Dragon capsule. Crew Dragon successfully returned to Earth, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico on 2 August 2020.
Booster reflight records SpaceX has developed a program to reuse the first-stage booster, setting multiple booster reflight records: •
B1021 became, on 30 March 2017, the first booster to be successfully recovered a second time, on Flight 32 launching the
SES-10 satellite. After that, it was retired and put on display at
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. • On 3 December 2018,
Spaceflight SSO-A launched on B1046. It was the first commercial mission to use a booster flying for the third time. •
B1048 was the first booster to be recovered four times on 11 November 2019. == See also ==