Update: SpaceX decided to hold its launch on Wednesday, February 24. It attempted another launch at 6:46 pm Eastern on Thursday, February 25, but held that launch at T-1:41. The next attempt occurred at the same time on Sunday, February 28, but the launch was paused because of a ship in the path of the discarded first stage, and then aborted during ignition because of low thrust. Another try was briefly scheduled for Tuesday, March 1, but then rescheduled for Friday, March 4 at 6:35 pm Eastern due to wind.
SpaceX is at it again today. Elon Musk’s company is launching a satellite into space with its Falcon 9 rocket and then, fingers crossed, will land the booster upright on an autonomous barge in the Atlantic Ocean. It's all part of the company’s plan to build truly reusable rockets for the future of space transport and travel.
But the company isn't feeling great about its odds. This marks the fifth time Musk and team have tried to land a rocket upright on a ship, and the score stands at robot boat: three, rocket: zero, after three spectacular crashes and one big kaboom in the air. The company *did *successfully land the Falcon 9 once, but on a blissfully grounded landing pad.
Today's launch will send the SES-9 satellite into geostationary orbit so it can broadcast video to Asian markets. To do that, it needs to be 22,000 miles above the Earth---much higher than the last payload SpaceX delivered into low Earth orbit, 1,200 miles up. That means that the rocket will have to travel faster and longer. After letting loose its payload, the rocket's booster will speed back down toward its frenemy---drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You,” lying in wait off the coast of Cape Canaveral.
The problem with landing on the ship isn't its size: Falcon 9 has hit the 300-by-100 foot target every time. It just hit ... a little harder than it intended. The last time SpaceX tried a water landing, one of the booster's legs collapsed and the thing toppled over. Landing on a bobbing floating platform is (obviously) harder than landing on stable ground. But the company will keep on scuttling its ships at sea because learning to land a rocket booster on water has some major advantages. In high-altitude, high-speed launches like this one, it is sometimes physically impossible to turn a rocket around and return it to the launch pad. Ocean landing, Musk tweeted, allows for a safe return for those high-velocity missions.
So as you're watching the live stream of the launch, keep your fingers crossed for the beleaguered Falcon 9, but don't expect any miracles (though the rocket performed well in a static test on Monday). The 90-minute launch window starts at 6:46pm Eastern time, and you can watch here when SpaceX's livestream begins. And if things do go well, SpaceX still has plenty of chances to prove itself, with a calendar packed full of flights it can use to experiment. The Falcon 9 is coming for you, robot boat.
