Main Engine Cut OffBulgariaSat-1 to Fly on Reused Falcon 9 Core
Stephen Clark, for Spaceflight Now:
A U.S.-built, Bulgarian-owned broadcast satellite will launch in mid-June from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a previously-used SpaceX Falcon 9 booster that first flew in January, the spacecraft’s owner said Friday.
Thanks to the great scoop by Stephen, we now know what the Iridium-1 first stage has been up to after its recovery.
After SES-10, there was a chorus of doubters saying, “Yeah, but it took a year to refurbish!” This flight should put that to bed, but then again, they’ll probably say, “Yeah, but 6 months is nowhere close to 24 hours!”
Every recovery teaches SpaceX something new about their vehicles, and those lessons are rolled into the production of new vehicles. The time between flights is going to continue to drop with every stage that comes back intact.