The Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit was a boilerplate version of the Dragon spacecraft. After using it for ground tests to rate Dragon's shape and mass in various tests, SpaceX launched it into low Earth orbit on the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX used the launch to evaluate the aerodynamic conditions on the spacecraft and performance of the carrier rocket in a real-world launch scenario, ahead of Dragon flights for NASA under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program.
The Falcon 9 v1.0 first stage was used on the first five Falcon 9 launches, and powered by nine SpaceX Merlin 1C rocket engines arranged in a 3x3 pattern.
See DetailsNo parachutes were observed during descent. Apparently the Falcon 9 first stage hit the water rather hard.Observation airfcraft confirmed the debris field.
Result: B0003 did not land successfully.Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
INFO WIKIZhangheng 1-02, also known as CSES-02 (China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite-02), is the follow-on mission to Zhangheng 1/CSES, a Chinese–Italian sp…
A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS.
A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
SXM-10 is the 11th high-powered, digital, audio radio satellite built by Maxar (SSL) for SiriusXM. The SXM-10 satellite will be based on Maxar’s prov…
A batch of Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group. …
A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.