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SpaceX F9v1.1 Launch w/ Dragon: CRS-3 4/18/2014

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Official Launch thread for updates.

This should be an interesting one, as there is much speculation and anticipation that SpaceX might try to return the first stage, including the addition of landing legs. Exciting times.

If landing legs end up being delayed for any reason then we won’t hold up the (CRS-3) flight for that. The schedule for that mission is mostly governed by upgrades to the Dragon spacecraft.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/10/spacexs-dragon-moved-february-11/
 
You mean their last ISS launch, 3 launches ago, right?

According to the articles it was the Canada Cassiope launch, I wasn't counting the two in between (I think they only had two) since they had said they weren't planning to do anything special here. Anyway, point is, it was something I had missed, and I am very pleased to hear about their progress! I look forward to the first REAL attempt at recovery, even if it is done over water again.
 
According to the articles it was the Canada Cassiope launch, I wasn't counting the two in between (I think they only had two) since they had said they weren't planning to do anything special here. Anyway, point is, it was something I had missed, and I am very pleased to hear about their progress! I look forward to the first REAL attempt at recovery, even if it is done over water again.

The next test is slated for this upcoming CRS-3 launch. I certainly hope there will be some interesting video that we'll be able to see. We really only got one photograph from the first test of the attempted landing and it was pretty fuzzy and distant.
 
The CRS-3 launch has been pushed back from the original date of Feb 22 to NET (no earlier than) March 1st, based on a recent International Space Station daily summary report. No reason yet given for the delay.

Is there a final date for this launch yet? Believe it or not, I'm supposed to donate some blood that will go up on this flight for an experiment on the ISS. But it depends on the launch date whether or not my cells actually get used or if they end up using cells from a backup group of donors.
 
Is there a final date for this launch yet? Believe it or not, I'm supposed to donate some blood that will go up on this flight for an experiment on the ISS. But it depends on the launch date whether or not my cells actually get used or if they end up using cells from a backup group of donors.
The March 1 date is holding for now, but hard to tell if it will hold for a whole month. It's always listed as NET, i.e. No Earlier Than, and can always be pushed back if needed.

But here's hoping that doug's blood goes to space!
 
I think we got a bit spoiled with the frequent launches in between ;) I'd really like to see SpaceX launch every month and then every week. But I guess that's still a (few) year(s) out.

Don't they have more than 12 launches scheduled for 2014?

Just looked, yeah... they have 14 launches left for 2014, and 12 in FL alone, so while they are pushing this back to march I think we are going to get quite a few back to back here.
 
Just released from NASA today, the launch is now NET March 16th:
Commercial Resupply Launch | NASA

This same article speculates on the reason for the delay:

A target later in the month was always more realistic, which also catered for a flow that had been slightly delayed by a slower-than-planned delivery of the Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage, due to the very poor weather in the United States so far this year.
 
Thank you rabar10! This is totally awesome news and I am glad they are making progress. Looks like the delay ended up helping SpaceX out! (even though the delay wasn't their idea)

I think we have something like 13 more launches this year for them to continue to test things out on without it actually costing them anything to really test it out.
 
So based on the schedule change, is your blood sample hitching a ride or no?
Yeah, I'm scheduled to donate on March 13th. The sample then gets FedExed or similar to Florida, prepped, and then put in the Dragon refrigerated storage for launch on the 16th. If there's a last minute slip, then they may use fresher samples from one of the backup groups.

I originally was scheduled to donate yesterday for a Feb 22nd launch. They had me go ahead an do that for a dry run. It's an apheresis donation, so I can give again after a week, but a slip of just a few days occurring within a few days of the expected launch means they use the a backup group. So hopefully there won't be any last minute delays. And hopefully I don't get cloned by aliens.