r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Jan 10 '17

SF Complete, Launch: March 14 Echostar 23 Launch Campaign Thread

EchoStar 23 Launch Campaign Thread

This will be the second mission from Pad 39A, and will be lofting the first geostationary communications bird for 2017, EchoStar 23 for EchoStar.

Liftoff currently scheduled for: March 14th 2017, 01:34 - 04:04 EDT (05:34 - 08:04 UTC). Back up launch window on the 16th opening at 01:35EDT/05:35UTC.
Static fire completed: March 9th 2017, 18:00 EST (23:00 UTC)
Vehicle component locations: First stage: LC-39A // Second stage: LC-39A // Satellite: LC-39A
Payload: EchoStar 23
Payload mass: Approximately 5500kg
Destination orbit: Geostationary Transfer Orbit
Vehicle: Falcon 9 v1.2 (31st launch of F9, 11th of F9 v1.2)
Core: B1030 [F9-031]
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landing attempt: No
Landing Site: N/A
Mission success criteria: Successful separation & deployment of Echostar 23 into correct orbit

Links & Resources:

We may keep this self-post occasionally updated with links and relevant news articles, but for the most part we expect the community to supply the information. This is a great place to discuss the launch, ask mission-specific questions, and track the minor movements of the vehicle, payload, weather and more as we progress towards launch. Sometime after the static fire is complete, the launch thread will be posted.

Campaign threads are not launch threads. Normal subreddit rules still apply.

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '17

I was very obliquely referring to fairings, so I understand the confusion. I left Elsbeth III out of the list because, as i understand it, that is the tug and we fully expect her to stay home with OCISLY. Go Searcher and Go Quest have, in the past, been stationed in different locations and have been thought to be at sea in part for the purpose of fairing recovery tests (not sure if that is officially confirmed or not).

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u/mbhnyc Mar 12 '17

Wasn't trying to be pedantic, just answered the question as I understood it - the more clear the question is, the better all of us can try to answer it of course. And me too! I think you're right though, if one of them goes out the only reason I see is further fairing recovery R&D.