Main Engine Cut Off

Jake and I unpack the National Space Council’s inaugural meeting, SpaceX’s BFR update from IAC, and the future of Falcon Heavy.

I speculated last week that there is potential for schedule tension between Falcon Heavy and Dragon 2 with the former seemingly slipping into 2018. This two month slip gives Falcon Heavy some breathing room.

As 2017 begins to look less and less likely, my mind starts to wander into 2018. How close will SpaceX be comfortable running the Falcon Heavy schedule up to Dragon 2 demo missions—with or without crew?

Elon Musk’s long-awaited IAC update is coming up next week. Interestingly, his session has a moderator. And that moderator is none other than Jean-Yves Le Gall.

With every step taken towards the launchpad, Blue Origin gets more confident, they open up, and they let the industry know just what’s coming its way.

Block 4 of the Falcon 9 is debuting with the launch of CRS-12, and Block 5 will debut on the uncrewed Dragon 2 demo mission.

The total AR1 agreement is valued at $804 million, so it’s just about halfway there. Worth noting that the Falcon 9 launch vehicle was developed for $390 million. And that includes the cost of Falcon 1 development.

USA 276 is making another close approach to the ISS, and yet again, there is a lot of activity around the ISS when it happens.

There’s a bit of a logjam out at the Cape: the launch dates of TDRS-M and CRS-12 fell very close to each other, and they’re both high-priority missions for NASA. This situation sheds some light on future SpaceX operations in Florida.