New Landing Zone For SpaceX CSR 17 To Be Reconsidered

SpaceX is likely to move the first stage landing of its Falcon 9 rocket set for April 30 launch from the company's Landing Zone to the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, just off the coast of Cape Canaveral. The planned first stage landing of the Falcon 9 booster at Landing Zone is called off after a ground test of the company's Crew Dragon capsule at the landing pad ended in an explosion last Saturday.

File photo of SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage landing on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean in November 2018. Credit: SpaceX

Workers were examining the wreckage from the Crew Dragon spacecraft at Landing Zone 1, prompting the company to apply for authority to land the first stage of the next Falcon 9 booster on the drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, featuring a brand new first stage is set to liftoff at 4:22 a.m. EDT (4:22 p.m. GMT+8) on April 30 from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad. A Dragon cargo ship will be mounted to the top of the Falcon 9 rocket, carry several tons of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station which is orbiting the Earth in the Low Earth Orbit.

According to a SpaceX license application dated Monday, the drone ship will be positioned roughly 28 kilometers Southeast of launch pad 40. The rocket's predawn return to Earth will likely be visible from land.

The landing will allow SpaceX to refurbish and re-fly the booster on the future mission. The Falcon 9 CRS 17 mission is remained scheduled for April 30 launch and a hold-down firing of the Falcon 9's Merlin Engines at pad 40 is scheduled for Thursday. It will be SpaceX's 17th resupply mission to the International Space Station since 2012 contracted by NASA at a value of more than $3 billion.

SpaceX had also confirmed that the Crew Dragon capsule that was involved in the explosion during engine test on last Saturday was the same capsule that flew to the International Space Station on a 6 days Demo-1 mission in March. SpaceX will have to use a new Crew Dragon capsule for the in-flight abort test that would showcase the ability of Crew Dragon to safely abort the astronauts from the rocket during rocket failing. This test will be the final test before SpaceX could sent astronauts to the orbit on its Demo-2 mission which is currently still targeted for July 25 launch.

Sources also reported that Demo-2 might be pushed back to late September or Early October this year.