Updates SpaceX Falcon 9 F5 CRS SpX-2 through CRS SpX-12 Updates

[Kyle]

CRS-3 has been moved up from November 28th to November 11th.

 

[Kyle]

CRS-3 has been delayed to December 9th.

 

[Kyle]

CRS-3 moved to NET January 17, 2014 to give ORB-1 room in December.

 

[IronRain]

 

[Kyle]

SpaceX showing off

 

[Kyle]

As reported in the Cassiope thread it looks like all future SpaceX Falcon 9, starting with CRS-3, will utilize landing gear. Uncertain whether or not CRS-3 will actually commit a ground landing or a water-demonstration landing. They're looking at the eastern tip of CCAFS for a landing site.

Crewed missions are being actively pursued to take place from LC-39A, but that's unrelated to CRS atm.

 

[Kyle]

CRS-3 set for a launch date of NET February 11th.

 

[Kyle]

A little surprised how far back I had to go to find this thread!

All in all, that's a good sign. Now that Thaicom-6 is over and out with, we now turn our heads to CRS-3, currently scheduled for a launch on February 22nd.

 

[Kyle]

Another day, another delay by one week.

NET March 1st. No reason given for the delay.

 

[Hlynkacg]

Just saw this, what appears to be a falcon 9 with landing legs has been spotted on the SpaceX test stand...

Falcon 9 gets it's gams.

Photos taken by several local people from a public road in the vicinity of the test site - some of which were provided to L2, while others were posted openly on the internet – provide a glimpse of the landing leg structures that appear to be closely based on the hardware that SpaceX is expected to employ when they actually fly with legs on a Falcon 9 mission to space.

It is understood the vehicle is currently suspended slightly above the ground, on hold downs points, with the legs deployed.

Soot can be seen on the base of the vehicle and the legs themselves, likely via static test firings.

Earlier pic of the prototype leg assembly in Hawthorne...

---------- Post added at 11:28 ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 ----------

UPDATE:
Apparently this is the GrassHopper mk 2.

It's bigger, heavier, and has deployable (as opposed to fixed) landing gear. Primary test objectives are to verify/test the flight characteristics and deployment mechanism of the Falcon9R's landing legs in preparation for a
full first stage recovery attempt.

 

[RGClark]

Just saw this, what appears to be a falcon 9 with landing legs has been spotted on the SpaceX test stand...

Falcon 9 gets it's gams.

...

UPDATE:
Apparently this is the GrassHopper mk 2.

It's bigger, heavier, and has deployable (as opposed to fixed) landing gear. Primary test objectives are to verify/test the flight characteristics and deployment mechanism of the Falcon9R's landing legs in preparation for a
full first stage recovery attempt.

Perhaps someone with image processing skills can tease out more detail from this image to determine number of engines.

Bob Clark

 

[Kyle]

Does anyone like delays? Good, because I've got great news for you.

CRS-2 delayed until NET March 16th.

 

[MattBaker]

Huh, I'll guess they won't launch until one year has passed from the last Dragon recovery (26th of March).

 

[Kyle]

International Space Station program managers have selected Sunday, March 16 as the launch date for SpaceX's third cargo resupply mission to the orbital complex. Launch is set for approximately 4:41 a.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more info: http://www.nasa.gov/spacex

 

[Kyle]

Exciting news!
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=34065.msg1162375#new

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Exciting news!
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=34065.msg1162375#new

With photos came truth:

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk
Mounting landing legs (~60 ft span) to Falcon 9 for next month's Space Station servicing flight pic.twitter.com/zyfazr2BB2

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk
However, F9 will continue to land in the ocean until we prove precision control from hypersonic thru subsonic regimes

 

[Kyle]

And another view!

 

[PhantomCruiser]

It would seem that adding legs isn't enough. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014...ing-legs-plan-first-stage-recovery-ambitions/

This is pretty ambitious, and I wish them luck.

Too bad it's going to be dark so we can't watch! If successful they may have film for us later on?

 

[Kyle]

I'll be tracking the 1st stage in my telescope at 200x magnification, so I'll know real-time what's going on at least.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

It would seem that adding legs isn't enough. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014...ing-legs-plan-first-stage-recovery-ambitions/

This is pretty ambitious, and I wish them luck.

Too bad it's going to be dark so we can't watch! If successful they may have film for us later on?

IR cameras at sea/on the rocket maybe?