Main Engine Cut Off

The crew access arm at SLC-41 is due to be installed sometime this week, Pad 39A work is continuing, and Falcon Heavy is delayed until “early 2017.”

There are a few obvious reasons the Air Force would go with a sole-source contract. This isn’t a big deal or a surprise, at all.

Here’s hoping they don’t “bend over backwards” on this one.

While this is posed as an option to help get Inmarsat’s payload off the ground sooner, this is an interesting decision for SpaceX to make in the future, as Falcon Heavy is flying regularly and they are reusing cores.

Reports out of McGregor—posted over on the SpaceX Facebook group—that SpaceX has fired the JCSAT-14 core again, for over two minutes. It’ll be very interesting to watch how many times they run this core through tests. That was an extremely quick turn around between full-duration tests, so things must be going well.

Yesterday, SpaceX completed a full-duration static fire of the JCSAT-14 core.

After a few months of work on SLC-4E at Vandenberg, SpaceX looks ready to pick up flights from there this fall. I haven’t heard too much lately about their work on the landing pads out west, but we should be seeing some of that soon, too.

Great rundown by Doug Messier of Parabolic Arc on the first two days of the NASA Advisory Council meetings. The full council meets Thursday and Friday.

Scott Johnson with Spaceflight Insider got in touch with SpaceX about the signature sonic booms of Falcon 9.