This has been SpaceXs most incredible year yet for launching rockets. In 2018, Elon Musks
aerospace company achieved 20 successful launches. Those missions sent dozens of payloads into
orbit, debuted two experimental Starlink internet satellites, and even shot a car past the orbit
of Mars. Musk was feeling good enough about SpaceXs
2018 progress in May that he said the company might "launch more rockets than any other
country." That didn't come to pass, since China successfully launched 35 of its Long
March orbital rockets in 2018, and the country still has a handful more planned.
But SpaceX did break its own record for the most orbital rocket launches by a single company
in a year. The company set that record — 18 launches over a single calendar year — in
2017. (United Launch Alliance held the title prior to that with 16 commercial rockets launched
in 2009. Here's Engineering Today looks back at every
SpaceX rocket launch of 2018, and what made each stand out.
So lets get started. Zuma — January 8
SpaceXs first launch of 2018 was marked by secrecy and a controversial spat. A classified
US government payload (perhaps a spy satellite) was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket, but reportedly
did not reach its intended orbit. However, Gwynne Shotwell, the president and
COO of SpaceX, said the companys rocket performed just fine and SpaceX did not pause its ambitious
launch plans after the alleged spacecraft loss.
By April, investigators seemed to conclude that a payload adapter built by Northrop Grumman,
was responsible for the problem.
GovSat-1/SES-16 — January 31
Most of SpaceXs missions are fairly standard: Launch a payload into orbit, and then try
to land the 16-story rocket booster on a concrete pad, or a drone ship in the ocean. Recovering
the booster helps the company save tens of millions of dollars worth of hardware and
reuse it, which keeps launch costs down. SpaceX tried something a little different
after launching GovSat-1 (a telecommunications satellite). The company purposefully let its
valuable booster splash down into the ocean (not onto a ship), but then managed to recover
the rocket part out of the water. This experiment paved the way for a contingency plan in case
a returning booster ever malfunctions, and misses its landing target.
Falcon Heavy and Starman. Tesla — February 6
The successful launch of SpaceXs Falcon Heavy rocket was epic. It blasted a spacesuit-clad
dummy, called "Starman" toward Mars orbit, inside a red Tesla Roadster car. The launch
proved the rocket to be the worlds most powerful operational launch vehicle, and sent rumbles
through the launch industry. "Life cannot just be about solving one sad
problem after another,"Musk tweeted about the stunt a month after the launch. "There
need to be things that inspire you, that make you glad to wake up in the morning and be
part of humanity. That is why we did it. We did for you."
Paz and Tintin A B — February 22
This otherwise typical launch of a large satellite,
called Paz, carried something of a surprise: two experimental spacecraft called Tintin
A and Tintin B. Each was a prototype for SpaceXs upcoming
Starlink project, which aims to shroud the Earth in about 12,000 similar-looking satellites.
The long-term goal is to provide ultra-fast internet to every square inch of the planet.
Hispasat 30W-6 — March 6
This launch of a bus-size Hispasat spacecraft (a telecommunications satellite) was the 50th
flight of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, a low-cost yet money-making workhorse for the company.
Iridium NEXT-5 — March 30
This launch sent up 10 telecommunications spacecraft at once for a company called Iridium.
The ultimate goal of the NEXT satellite constellation is to send up 75 newer, faster models than
the ones that currently exist in an increasingly dated Iridium satellite constellation.
CRS-14 — April 2
The International Space Station (ISS) is a $150 billion, football-field-size laboratory
that zooms around Earth some 250 miles above the planets surface. Keeping it running requires
resupply missions that carry up fresh food, water, and experiments.
SpaceX is one of several contractors that NASA relies on to send cargo up to the ISS
and bring some back home. CRS-14 — which stands for Commercial Resupply Service mission
14 — delivered nearly 3 tons of stuff to the ISS.
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) — April 18
A new NASA mission called the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is on the hunt for
small, rocky, watery, and potentially habitable exoplanets.
SpaceX launched TESS on a meandering path through space, and since then the telescope
has settled into a funky orbit that should allow it to detect roughly 50 Earth look-a-likes,
over the next two years.
Bangabandhu Satellite-1 — May 11
The launch of Bangabandhu Satellite-1 brought new telecommunications abilities to Bangladesh.
But the mission primarily gained attention, because of the revolutionary new rocket that
SpaceX debuted. The mission marked the first flight of SpaceXs
Falcon 9, Block 5 model, which has a booster thats designed to be launched, landed, and
reused perhaps 100 times. Musk said this model is essentially the "final version" of Falcon
9 before the company pivots to focus on bigger, badder rockets that can go to Mars.
Iridium NEXT-6 and GRACE-FO — May 22
In addition to launching five more Iridium
NEXT satellites for that companys constellation, SpaceXs 10th launch of the year sent up two
satellites for NASA. Called Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
Follow-On, or GRACE-FO, the NASA mission aims to analyze Earths water and ice content by
detecting small changes in the planets gravitation field.
SES-12 — June 4
This mission was one of SpaceXs most straightforward
of the year. It launched a nearly 12,000-lb satellite into an orbit high above Earth,
but the company did not try to land its typically reusable booster. The part was an older, non-Block
5 version, so was allowed to fall to Earth and crash into the ocean.
CRS-15 — June 29
Launches in the morning or evening can be
extra-spectacular. During this resupply mission for the space station, a plume of smoke and
vapor in the sky caught the rising sun. Because it was still dark on the ground, this led
to a glowing "dragons tail" effect. The CRS-15 mission also brought a floating,
talking robotic head called CIMON to keep astronauts company on the ISS (and spy on
them). CIMON recently gained attention for a strange
glitch: When asked to cancel its music-playing mode, the robot got defensive.
"Be nice, please," it said to European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst. Then CIMON
asked, "don't you like it here with me?" and finally requested, "don't be so mean, please."
Telstar 19 Vantage — July 22
This mission sent up the 15,600-lb Telstar
19 Vantage telecommunications satellite — the largest of its kind ever launched. SpaceX
managed to reserve enough fuel in its Falcon 9 booster for the part to land itself, which
will allow the booster to be reused in the future.
Iridium NEXT-7 — July 25
Another month, another Iridium satellite launch.
This mission marked the most impressive landing of a Falcon 9 rocket booster to date. Despite
bad weather and large ocean swells, the 16-story-tall part landed successfully on a drone ship.
Merah Putih — August 7
Merah Putih is an Indonesian telecommunications
satellite. What made this flight interesting was that it was the first time a Falcon 9
Block 5 rocket booster was reused.
Telstar 18 Vantage, Apstar-5C — September 10.
This mission was strictly business: It launched a replacement for a shared satellite. The
new spacecraft provides eastern Asia, Australia, and many Pacific islands with telecommunications
coverage.
SAOCOM 1A — October 8
Argentina got its first Earth-observation
satellite into orbit with this SpaceX mission. The rocket launched from the companys site
at Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California. It was SpaceXs first booster landing on the
West Coast. A SpaceX photographer set up a camera in exactly
the right location to capture all stages of the night mission.
Es'hail-2 — November 15
This launch debuted a new design for a NASA-approved
helium pressure tank. Such tanks help the second stage (or upper
stage) of a Falcon 9 rocket maintain pressure to keep the rocket engines burning fuel.
The failure of one such tank led to a catastrophic launchpad explosion on September 1, 2016.
Thankfully No one was hurt. SpaceX eventually plans to use its Falcon
9 rocket to launch astronauts, but NASA requires that the redesigned tank fly at least seven
times before any people are onboard. This launch marked the first successful demonstration
of that tank.
SSO-A (SmallSat Express) — December 3
With this single launch, SpaceX delivered 64 small satellites into orbit.
Three of those satellites are testing a concept to track covert shipping, fishing, piracy, and other
illegal activities on the oceanfrom space. The launch of SSO-A, or SmallSat Express,
was also the mission in which SpaceX broke its own 2017 record of 18 orbital rocket launches
in one year.
CRS-16 — December 5
SpaceXs recent mission to resupply the ISS and deliver experiments to the laboratory
was picture-perfect. The failed landing of its 16-story booster,
however, was not. SpaceX tried to land the booster of its Falcon
9 rocket on a ground pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. But the booster spun wildly before
plopping down in the ocean and falling over. The booster failed to land properly because
one of four rocket-steering "grid fins" that guide the vehicle to the ground failed to
pop out. Musk later blamed the anomaly on a faulty pump, that was supposed to pop out
the grid fin. Miraculously — perhaps related to the landing
experiment SpaceX conducted in its January 31 launch of GovSat-1. Musk said the booster
was undamaged. It was eventually recovered and brought back to port. It might even get
reused for a future launch of Starlink satellites.
Yet again, SpaceX plans to launch more rockets
than ever before in 2019 — perhaps 22 if all goes as planned. The list includes the
inaugural launch of the Crew Dragon spaceship for NASA astronauts.
The rest of the world is ramping up spaceflight activity to record-breaking levels too.
The world record for most successful launches in a year is 126. That happened in both 1983
and 1984. But 2019 is bound to break that record with a whopping 173 planned orbital
launches.
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