321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week (March 28)

Emre Kelly, Florida Today
·2 min read

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Relativity delivers on first Terran 1 launch

The world's first 3D-printed rocket shot off a Relativity Space pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station late Wednesday, leaving behind a never-before-seen streak of blue flames above Florida's sky thanks to new methane-fueled engines.

After a series of countdown issues – namely boats wandering into the rocket's keep-out zone – early on, the 110-foot Terran 1 rocket blasted off from Launch Complex 16 at 11:25 p.m. EDT and flew into clear skies. Relativity teams cheered as the rocket cleared the towers, separated the first and second stages, and began firing toward a low-Earth orbit.

Despite the fact that the second stage did not achieve orbit due to what appeared to be a loss of velocity, the team surpassed the primary mission objectives. Relativity had initially hoped to just clear the tower and fly past max-Q, or the phase of flight that introduces peak physical stress on rockets. But Terran 1 made it past those milestones and pushed to stage separation, giving way to the last Aeon engine's final push to orbit.

Read the full post-launch story here.

Artemis II crew event

As a reminder, NASA on Monday, April 3, will reveal the Artemis II crew of four astronauts that will fly a mission to lunar orbit and back no earlier than late 2024. It's not the same as the two astronauts who will land on the surface for Artemis III, but it's still significant – no humans have been that far from Earth since Apollo 17 in 1972.

NASA will host the event at 11 a.m. EDT Monday. Tune in at floridatoday.com/space for live video and updates.

Upcoming launches

March 29: SpaceX Starlink 5-10

  • Company / Agency: Internal SpaceX mission

  • Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9

  • Location: Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

  • Launch Window: 4:01 p.m. to 7:54 p.m. EDT

  • Trajectory: Southeast

  • Weather: 60% "go"

  • Landing: Drone ship

  • Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space

  • About: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the company's latest batch of Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and land the Falcon 9 first-stage booster on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. It will be the 17th mission to fly from Florida this year and SpaceX's 77th Starlink-dedicated mission.

As usual, we'll have live coverage of these missions at floridatoday.com/space. For the latest, see our full schedule at floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: 321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week (March 28)