Western Range - Notable Launches

Notable Launches

  • 1959-02-28 - Discoverer 1 - first spacecraft placed in a polar orbit.
  • scheduled Summer 2013 – Falcon 9 Flight 6, the first launch of the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle from a privately developed leased launchpad at Vandenberg Air Force Base will result in an unusual post-mission launch vehicle test. The first-stage booster of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will conduct a propulsive-return over-water test. After the second stage with the CASSIOPE payload separates from the booster, the booster will do a retro burn to reduce velocity from approximately Mach 10 (7,600 mph; 12,000 km/h) to a controllable descent velocity, and then a second burn just before it reaches the water to simulate a vertical landing of the first stage. This will be the first high-altitude, high-velocity test of the SpaceX reusable rocket launching system.

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Famous quotes containing the word notable:

    “Every notable advance in technique or organization has to be paid for, and in most cases the debit is more or less equivalent to the credit. Except of course when it’s more than equivalent, as it has been with universal education, for example, or wireless, or these damned aeroplanes. In which case, of course, your progress is a step backwards and downwards.”
    —Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)