13.11.2020

SpaceX conducts static fire test on Falcon 9 for Crew-1 mission

SpaceX has conducted a Static Fire test on the Falcon 9 rocket tasked with the first operational Crew Dragon mission, Crew-1.  The flight will be SpaceX’s second crewed flight and their first rotation mission with four astronauts onboard.

The test firing occurred at around 3:49pm Eastern at KSC 39A in Florida.

Lead image: Stephen Marr (@spacecoast_stve).

The static fire is one of the last critical tests ahead of launch and consists of a near-complete (the crew will not be aboard for the test) rehearsal of the mission countdown to ensure all vehicle systems are working properly.

Each stage has already been test-fired at SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas facility earlier this year before shipping to the Kennedy Space Center where they underwent final preparations and integration with each other and Crew Dragon before the entire stack was placed on the Transporter-Erector (TE).

On Monday evening, the Falcon 9 stack rolled out of the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) onto the launch pad, after which it was raised vertical on Tuesday morning.

Later that day, teams discovered a slightly anomalous reading on a purge valve on the second stage, leading to a decision to replace the valve even though the issue could have been accepted as-is.

The change-out necessitated bringing the Falcon 9 back down horizontal and delaying the static fire test from Tuesday evening into Wednesday afternoon.

For the test, mission control — operating from Firing Room 4 in the Launch Control Center next to the VAB at the Kennedy Space Center — ran through the complete launch countdown, including propellant loading of both stages.

At T-35 minutes, RP-1 — a specially-refined form of kerosene — began flowing into the first and second stages.  Liquid oxygen loading on the first stage began at the same time.  The second stage started to receive liquid oxygen at T-16 minutes.