In the summer of last year, we learned that the Polish astronaut will fly to an international space station within a commercial, but supported agency, Axiom 4 mission Shukla from India and the second mission specialist – Tibor of Kapu from Hungary. The crew starts from the Space Center of John F. Kennedy in Florida and will spend up to 14 days at the station. During this time, scientific research will conduct in the conditions of microgravity and educational activities. The Falcon 9 rocket from Elona Muska, Spacex will be at the orbit. Astronauts will be in the SpaceX Dragon crew capsule.
Spacex has perfected the art of landing with Falcon 9 rockets
Falcon 9 is a two -stage rocket, the first degree of which can land and be used again. Until recently, it was the only capable rocket. In October 2024 for the first time However, the first degree of Starship rocket was capturedBigger Falcon 9. This art was made almost a decade after Falcon 9 scored a successful landing for the first time.
Recently the same, but with a rocket of a larger caliber, she tried to make Blue Origin, belonging to Jeff Bezos. Although the start of the New Glenn rocket went according to plan, it However, landing did not succeed. This means that currently only rockets from Elona Muska are able to fly into space, come back and be used again for the next flight to the orbit. The re -landing of the first degree module is, as you can see, a challenge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4txczg_ney
For years, the world watched the next Falcona 9 Starts. His first version was fired in 2010, up to 15 years ago. She was “only” 54.9 meters high. Over the next three years, the rocket started five times before it was replaced by the V1.1 version, which was already measuring 68.4 meters, which is almost 15 meters more than V1.0. The first successful returns, but with landing in the ocean, is 2013 and barely sixth Falcon Start 0. Until 2016, sixteen test flights were carried out, of which in six cases it was possible to land so safely enough to recover the rocket. In 2015, during flight No. 20, Falcon 9 safely settled on a ground landing platform. In 2016, the rocket was recovered after planting at an autonomous maritime landing station.
And then everything moved from the hoof. Today, Falcon 9 for orbit is, among others Starlink satellites. On January 21, the rocket scored 400. A successful landing (this result includes the successful landing of its larger version – Falcon Heavy, equipped with two additional boosters). According to Elonx.net, who follows everything around SpaceX and collects statistics on this subject, until January 30 Falcon 9 made 402 successful landings, of which 321 on the ocean platform, and 81 on land. The official website of SpaceX apparently has not yet noted this, although the company informed about 400. Landing on X.com. For now, however, the counter has stopped at 383.
Currently, a series of 61 landings in a row without any failure, the longest series is 267 such starts. In total, Falcon 9 effectively landed in 97.10 percent. cases. Among the first degrees of the rocket recovered, the record holder is the one that has been used up to 25 times in total.
Falcon 9 is so efficient that in October last year the rocket rose to orbit up to 16 times. 119 starts in 2024, counting by early December, give an average start every 2.3 day. For comparison, NASA ships in the last decade have risen to orbit barely 135 times. The defense of a space agency is that he simply outsourced and cooperates closely, including from Spacex.
It is still worth knowing about the Falon 9 rocket and Dragon capsules
It is worth noting a few more numbers: the current version of Falcon 9 measures 70 meters and weighs 594 tons. The low orbit can be up to 22.8 tons of cargo, and on a geostationary transfer orbit – 8.3 tons. SpaceX also informs that Falcon 9 can provide 4.02 tonnes of cargo on Mars. Each start of the rocket costs $ 69.75 million.
The Falcon 9 rocket program was initiated in 2007. They took their name from the famous Sokol Millenium (Millenium Falcon), the most famous spacecraft from the “Star Wars” movie series. Nine in the name is simply the number of Merlin engines that drive the first racket.
The Dragon ship, which together with the Falcon 9 crew will take to orbit, was to take its name from the song from 1963 “Puff, The Magic Dragon”. This is a song for children, whose authors have been accused of for years that they had scored marijuana smoking references. Its authors in January this year denied that it was so. Whereas Elon Musk in 2008 confirmed, That he chose the name because many people told him that he probably had to smoke marijuana, since he decided on this cosmic adventure.
Work on the Dragon capsule began in 2004, before the start of the Falcon 9 project. NASA was involved from the beginning. Its second version at this moment is the only space supply ship that can be reused.
Sources: ESA, CNBC, Space.com, Spacex.com, NASA, Arstechnica.com