Additional milestones were added later, raising the total contract value to US$396 million. The overall contract award was US$278 million to provide three demonstration launches of Falcon 9 with the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. The contract was structured as a Space Act Agreement (SAA) "to develop and demonstrate commercial orbital transportation service", including the purchase of three demonstration flights. Milestone-specific payments were provided under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program in 2006. While SpaceX spent its own capital to develop and fly its previous launcher, Falcon 1, SpaceX developed Falcon 9 with private capital but was assisted by NASA commitments to purchase several flights once specific capabilities were demonstrated. The initial launch would not occur until 2010. In October 2005, SpaceX announced plans to launch Falcon 9 in the first half of 2007. Several versions of Falcon 9 have been built and flown: v1.0 flew from 2010–2013, v1.1 flew from 2013–2016, while v1.2 Full Thrust first launched in 2015, encompassing the Block 5 variant, which has been in operation since May 2018.ĭevelopment history Falcon 9 rocket family from left to right: Falcon 9 v1.0, v1.1, Full Thrust, Block 5, and Falcon Heavy Conception and funding Falcon 9 is certified for the National Security Space Launch program and NASA Launch Services Program as "Category 3", which can launch the most expensive, important, and complex NASA missions. įalcon 9 is human-rated for transporting NASA astronauts to the ISS. On 24 January 2021, Falcon 9 set a record for the most satellites launched by a single rocket, carrying 143 into orbit. The former was launched into an advantageous super-synchronous transfer orbit, while the latter went into a lower-energy GTO, with an apogee well below the geostationary altitude. The heaviest payloads flown to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) were Intelsat 35e carrying 6,761 kg (14,905 lb), and Telstar 19V with 7,075 kg (15,598 lb). Both stages are powered by SpaceX Merlin engines, using cryogenic liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene ( RP-1) as propellants. Individual boosters have flown as many as 18 flights. As of 8 December 2023, SpaceX has successfully landed Falcon 9 boosters 238 times. This feat was first achieved on flight 20 in December 2015. The booster is capable of landing vertically to facilitate reuse. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payload to a pre-determined speed and altitude, after which the second stage accelerates the payload to its target orbit. rocket with the most launches in history and with the best safety record, having suffered just one flight failure. rocket currently certified for transporting humans to the ISS. In 2020 it became the first commercial rocket to ever launch humans to orbit and is currently the only such vehicle capable of doing so. The first Falcon 9 commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched on 8 October 2012. The first Falcon 9 launch was on 4 June 2010. It can also be used as an expendable heavy-lift launch vehicle. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium-lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.įor the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016.
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