Reconstruction: Milestone Falcon 9 Flight with eleven OG2 Satellites
This is a reconstructed timeline of Monday’s Falcon 9 mission that successfully delivered eleven Orbcomm second generation satellites to Low Earth Orbit and achieved a milestone in space flight history by becoming the first orbital-class launch vehicle to return its first stage to Earth for a rocket-powered landing just minutes after blasting off. (All times given on this page are to be considered approximate, though should be fairly accurate.)
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| T-00:03 | Ignition |
| T+00:00 | Liftoff |
| T+00:07 | Tower Clear |
| T+01:05 | Mach 1 |
| T+01:13 | MaxQ displayed on Webcast |
| T+01:50 | MVac In-Flight Chilldown |
| T+02:23 | Main Engine Cutoff – Altitude: 75km, Velocity: 1.67km/s |
| T+02:25* | Stage Separation |
| T+02:34* | Mvac Ignition |
| T+02:48* | Payload Fairing Jettison |
| T+03:47 | First Stage Boost-Back Start |
| T+04:27 | Stage 2 at Mach 5 |
| T+04:33 | New Hampshire Acquisition of Signal |
| T+07:22 | Stage 2 at Mach 10 |
| T+08:01 | First Stage Re-Entry Burn Start |
| T+08:21 | First Stage Entry Burn Cutoff |
| T+08:26 | Stage 2 at Mach 15 |
| T+09:11 | Stage 2 at Mach 20 |
| T+09:11 | Landing Burn Start |
| T+09:26 | Stage 2 Shutdown |
| T+09:44 | First Stage Landing at LZ-1 |
| T+14:26 | Sat 1 & 2 Deploy |
| T+15:38 | Sat 3 & 4 Deploy |
| T+16:16 | Sat 5 & 6 Deploy |
| T+17:23 | Sat 7 & 8 Deploy |
| T+18:07 | Sat 9 & 10 Deploy |
| T+19:05 | Sat 11 Deploy |
| T+3x:xx | Second Stage Deorbit Burn |
| T+6x:xx | Second Stage Re-Entry |
*Adjusted for known onboard video delay
Propulsive Flight:
Liftoff: December 22, 2015 – 01:29 UTC
First Stage Burn: 143 Seconds
Second Stage Burn: 412 Seconds
First Stage Re-Entry Burn: 20 Seconds
First Stage Landing Burn: 33 Seconds
Orbit:
Target Orbit: 620 x 660 Kilometers, Inclination: 47°
Achieved Orbit: 614 x 656 Kilometers, Inclination: 47.00°