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For the first time, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy will try to deliver the Pentagon’s spaceship to the world’s lowest spaceship. The mission, which marks the seventh for the space shuttle, is intended to expand the Space Force’s understanding of the space environment and test new technologies.
The Falcon Heavy is in order will launch at 8:15 pm ET on Sunday, December 10 from special launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. All the boosters will try to put it directly on the surface after launch (Falcon Heavy consists of three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together). This event will be announced together The story of SpaceX on Xformerly known as Twitter.
It’s a first for SpaceX—launching the space shuttle with the Falcon Heavy—there won the Air Force contract in 2018 via a low-cost launch and liftoff from United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy. This mission was supposed to get off the ground years ago but was delayed due to funding issues and open space.
The USSF-52 mission will deliver the X-37B spaceplane, a project growing up from the first prototype X-37A developed by NASA in the late 1990s. Operated by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and the US Space Force, Boeing’s unused space shuttle is designed for reuse and can be relaunched. in the air and landing on normal roads.
The mission “will advance the United States Space Force’s understanding of the space environment by testing future space launch technologies,” the Space Force said in a statement. information. “These tests are very important in ensuring the safety, stability, and security of operations in space for everyone who uses the area.”
For its seventh mission, the X-37B will operate in new orbital configurations and carry a NASA test called Seeds-2. This experiment will expose plant seeds to the harsh radiation environment of the long-haul spacecraft, collecting data. important for the crew’s future missions.
The spacecraft’s first mission, launched aboard a ULA Atlas V rocket in May 2020, saw the spacecraft spend a record 908 days on its first orbit. landing to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in November 2022. This mission included a service phase that expanded the spacecraft’s capabilities, and delivered more experiments than any previous mission. Among these were the study of the Naval Research Laboratory’s Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module model and two studies by NASA to study the effects of space conditions on different materials.
This upcoming mission marks SpaceX’s 92nd for the year 2023, approaching CEO Elon Musk’s lofty goal of 100 launches within a year. With a few weeks left, it looks like the company is on track to reach this milestone.
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