00:00Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, ignition, and liftoff.
00:11Go Falcon, go Bluebird.
00:20Vehicle is pitching downramps.
00:24M1D chamber pressures are nominal.
00:39At T-plus 30 seconds into flight, Falcon 9 has successfully lifted off from Space Launch
00:44Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
00:48We're currently throttling down to prepare for Max-Q, which is the point of maximum aerodynamic
00:53stress on the vehicle.
00:55Max-Q occurs in the lower atmosphere, where there's still air.
00:59There's still enough air to create significant resistance against the rocket.
01:03This is when the pressure pushing against the rocket is at its highest point, and it's
01:09a key test of the vehicle's structural integrity.
01:12After Max-Q, the rocket continues to accelerate, but the air becomes thinner, reducing the stress
01:17on the vehicle as it climbs through the upper layers of the atmosphere.
01:21Max-Q.
01:23And there's the call-up for Max-Q.
01:25Merlin engines are back at full power now that we're out of the throttle bucket.
01:29And from here on, even though velocity is rapidly increasing, the atmospheric density is decreasing,
01:35resulting in less loads on Falcon 9.
01:41Now we have several events coming up in quick succession, starting with MECO, followed by
01:48stage separation, and second engine start, or SCS-1.
01:52Main engine cutoff, or MECO, is where all nine Merlin 1D engines shut down to slow the vehicle
01:58down in preparation for stage separation, where the first stage separates from the second stage.
02:04Then the MVAC engine on the second stage will light, which is called out as Second Engine
02:09Start 1, or SCS-1.
02:11This engine burn, lasting several minutes, will propel the second stage and our payloads to
02:16orbit.
02:17After that, the fairing will jettison from the second stage, as it's no longer needed to
02:21protect the payloads once we're in space.
02:26We should be hearing the first of these call-outs in just about 10 seconds from now.
03:00And we had confirmation of those three events.
03:03That happen back-to-back, main engine cutoff, stage separation, and second engine start
03:07one.
03:08Coming up next will be fairing separation.
03:14Again, we jettison the payload fairing halves, now that they're no longer needed in the vacuum
03:19of space, and we'll attempt to retrieve them once they fall back to Earth.
03:33Fairing separation confirmed.
03:39And there we just heard confirmation of fairing separation.
03:43They'll make their way back to Earth for recovery.
04:00Now the next major milestone coming up is the entry burn on our Falcon 9 first stage, which
04:05is scheduled to occur at the T plus 6 minute and 25 second mark.
04:09The entry burn is used to slow the first stage as it heads towards our drone ship, a shortfall
04:15of gravitas, located in the Atlantic Ocean.
04:19The booster engine graphic on the lower left-hand corner of the screen displays the arrangement
04:24of the nine M1D engines, with the outer ring of 8 and the center 9th engine.
04:28And these are held in place on the vehicle by a structure called the ArctaWeb.
04:40The entry burn is similar to pumping the brakes to slow down the vehicle as it passes back
04:45into the Earth's atmosphere.
04:46And we need to slow down to reduce re-entry forces, which then helps us recover and reuse
04:51the first stage.
04:52Then shortly after entry burn, the booster will initiate the landing burn, which will slow the
04:57vehicle down before touching down on our drone ship.
05:13We're still more than a minute away from the beginning of the entry burn.
05:25So that first stage is not only using the Merlin engines for the re-entry and landing process,
05:29it also uses its titanium grid fins and nitrogen gas thrusters for stability and control.
05:37While views aren't the greatest right now, from time to time you might spot those white
05:42puffs coming from Falcon 9, and those are the cold nitrogen gas bursts, which help with attitude
05:47control.
06:14So we're still coming up on the entry burn.
06:16We should expect that within the next 20 seconds.
06:31Stage 1 FTS is safe.
06:37Stage 1 entry burn startup.
06:40And there's the call-out for the entry burn startup on the Falcon 9 first stage.
06:44This burn will last about 25 seconds, and again is slowing the vehicle down in preparation
06:49for its final burn and landing.
07:01Stage 1 entry burn shutdown.
07:04And that concludes the booster's entry burn.
07:06And as mentioned earlier, we will be attempting to recover this booster with our drone ship,
07:11a shortfall of Gravitas, currently stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
07:15And now the next milestone, coming up in about a minute, will be the Stage 1 landing burn.
07:19You can follow along with the burn via the engine graphic at the bottom left of your screen.
07:24And as the burn happens, you'll notice a drastic decrease in the speed and altitude of the vehicle.
07:51Coming up shortly, we'll have the start of the landing burn for the first stage.
07:54Stage 1 transonic.
07:56The landing burn is the final burn of the Falcon 9 booster,
07:59used to reduce the remaining speed of the vehicle for a gentle and precise landing.
08:04Stage 2 terminal guidance.
08:06And as Falcon 9 descends towards the drone ship,
08:08keep an eye out for the first stage landing leg deploy just prior to touching down.
08:22Stage 2 FDS is safe.
08:25Stage 1 landing burn.
08:28There's the call-out for the landing burn startup on the Falcon 9 first stage.
08:32Again, this is the final burn that this booster will execute leading up to landing.
08:42Stage 1 landing leg deploy.
08:47Inback shutdown.
08:52Stage 1 landing confirmed.
08:55As you saw and heard, that was a successful...
08:58Nominal orbit insertion.
08:59...first stage landing of our Falcon 9 booster.
09:01As a reminder, this booster flew for its 29th time.
09:05And now while the booster has completed its part of the mission,
09:08our first of three payload deployments is expected at T-plus 53 minutes.
09:13And before that, the MVAC engine on the second stage will execute a second burn.
