why does the spacex barge say of course i still love you

by Jett Labadie 4 min read

Of Course I Still Love You was previously based in Florida from 2015 to 2021. The droneship is a modified barge that is outfitted with a large landing platform, station-keeping thrusters, and other equipment to allow SpaceX to land boosters at sea on high-velocity missions that cannot carry enough fuel to allow for a return-to-launch-site landing.

Full Answer

Why do SpaceX's autonomous barges have such whimsical names?

West Coast Move. SpaceX repositioned Of Course I Still Love You from Port Canaveral, Florida, to the Port of Long Beach, California in June 2021. Just Read the Instructions droneship was previously based in California until mid-2019 but was repositioned to Florida as launched out of Vandenberg slowed down. This meant that SpaceX no longer had a dronship to support Pacific …

What is the name of SpaceX’s first landing barge?

Answer (1 of 2): There once was a Scottish science fiction writer called Iain M. Banks, he passed away tragically at age 59 of cancer but left behind some very uplifting work. As opposed to the majority of science fiction, his work was not concerned with Dystopia but with a …

What will be the barge used for the SpaceX Jason-3 launch?

The Of Course I Still Love You is an “autonomous spaceport drone ship”—that is, a floating landing pad that can hold itself steady or be controlled remotely while at sea. Uniquely among all rockets being used today, the booster stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is designed to fly back to a landing pad so that it can be reused.

What happened to the SpaceX just read the instructions?

Jun 25, 2015 · Image: SpaceX. For this try, SpaceX’s new drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" will be waiting. It takes over the role originally held by "Just Read the Instructions," the company’s first autonomous vessel. The names of both ships are a nod to the Iain M. Banks novel "The Player of Games." In January, Falcon’s hypersonic grid system ...

Why is the drone ship called Of course I still love you?

The trend started six years ago when Musk announced via Twitter that he had named the company's first spaceport drone ship "Just Read the Instructions." Soon enough, he clarified the meaning behind the name, revealing that he did so in honour of Iain M Banks.May 5, 2021

What does I still love you mean SpaceX?

Of Course I Still Love You berthing at Port Canaveral with a Falcon 9 booster - SpaceX. Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) is an autonomous spaceport droneship (ASDS) that is operated out of the Port of Long Beach, California. Of Course I Still Love You was previously based in Florida from 2015 to 2021.

Where is the drone ship Of course I still love you?

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The most prolific SpaceX drone ship has arrived on the West Coast. The floating Falcon 9 rocket landing pad "Of Course I Still Love You" (or OCISLY for short) departed Port Canaveral on June 10, to change coasts in support of SpaceX's increasing launch operations.Jul 7, 2021

Why does the SpaceX Droneship camera cut out?

“As the rockets get closer to the droneship the thrust from the engines start to shake the droneship with such a high frequency that the video feed antenna [on the ship] loses lock with the satellite, causing the video feed to cut out,” Prime Space explains.May 16, 2021

Do you still love me SpaceX?

Of Course I Still Love You carries the first first stage that successfully landed on a drone ship (Falcon 9 Full Thrust, SpaceX CRS-8, 8 April 2016)....Autonomous spaceport drone ship.Of Course I Still Love You landing historyLast landing18 December 2021 (Starlink Group 4-11)Associated rocketsFalcon 9 Full Thrust Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy3 more rows

Why is SpaceX rocket named Dragon?

SpaceX's CEO, Elon Musk, named the spacecraft after the 1963 song "Puff, the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary, reportedly as a response to critics who considered his spaceflight projects impossible.

Why does SpaceX land on drone ship?

Return to launch site landing requires more fuel so it isn't always feasible, especially if the Falcon 9 is carrying a massive payload. So typically the company relies on its drone ships to do most of the work. The ships are mobile and require less fuel reserves on the rocket.Sep 2, 2021

How far offshore is SpaceX barge?

Ultimately the 15 story tall booster successfully landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” or OCISLY droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles (600 km) offshore and east of Cape Canaveral.

What ship did SpaceX bring back?

SpaceX Dragon cargo ship24. A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship is headed back to Earth. The uncrewed Dragon CRS-24 resupply ship undocked from the International Space Station on Sunday (Dec. 23) after just over a month linked to the orbiting laboratory.Jan 23, 2022

What is an ASDS ship?

Active, expected usage in few months. An autonomous spaceport drone ship ( ASDS) is an ocean-going vessel derived from a deck barge, outfitted with station-keeping engines and a large landing platform and is autonomously controlled when on station for a landing.

How long was the landing platform on the Falcon 9?

The landing platform of the upper deck of the first barge named Just Read the Instructions was 170 ft × 300 ft (52 m × 91 m) while the span of the Falcon 9 v1.1 landing legs was 60 ft (18 m).

Where is the second ASDS barge?

The second ASDS barge, Of Course I Still Love You ( OCISLY ), had been under construction in a Louisiana shipyard since early 2015 using a different hull — Marmac 304 — in order to service launches on the East Coast of the United States. It was built as a replacement for the first Just Read the Instructions and entered operational service for Falcon 9 Flight 19 in late June 2015. As of June 2015, its home port was Port of Jacksonville, Florida, but after December 2015, it was transferred 260 km (160 mi) further south, at Port Canaveral .

Who is the CEO of SpaceX?

In 2009, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk articulated ambitions for "creating a paradigm shift in the traditional approach for reusing rocket hardware". In October 2014, SpaceX publicly announced that they had contracted with a Louisiana shipyard to build a floating landing platform for reusable orbital launch vehicles. Early information indicated that the ...

What was the first launch vehicle barge?

SpaceX first launch vehicle landing barge ( Marmac 300 ), and also its third ( Marmac 303 ), were both named Just Read the Instructions ( JRTI ). In fact, some of the parts from the original hull/barge were used to build the Marmac 303 ASDS. The original, Marmac 300, was scrapped after the SpaceX CRS-6 landing failure on 14 April 2015.

When will the fourth ASDS ship be released?

A fourth ASDS, A Shortfall of Gravitas ( ASOG ), was announced in February 2018 and was originally planned to enter service in mid-2019. In October 2020, Elon Musk re-affirmed plans to build a ship of this name. In January 2021, Marmac 302 was spotted at Bollinger Fourchon site.

What was the first stage of the Falcon 9?

Starlink L4. Falcon 9 first stage B1056.4 made a water landing following the launch of Starlink L4, which was the fifth batch of 60 Starlink satellites. The first stage booster failed to land on the drone ship making it the first landing failure of flight proven booster.

What happened to the Soyuz rocket?

Just before the spacecraft separated from the third stage of its Soyuz carrier rocket, the rocket’s oxidizer and propellant tanks depressurized, with apparently catastrophic results. The spacecraft was left tumbling out of control, rotating at 90 degrees per second.

How much cargo does the Dragon carry?

Dragon is carrying about 1.8 metric tons of cargo and supplies. After the Falcon first stage gives the launch vehicle its initial boost toward orbit, it will separate, perform a boostback burn and come in for an upright landing on a thruster-powered landing platform.

When will SpaceX launch Dragon?

The company is scheduled to launch a Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral this Sunday, June 28 at 10 :21 a.m. EDT (14:21 UTC).

When did Falcon 9 launch?

Falcon 9 first stage approached the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” in the Atlantic Ocean after successfully launching the Dragon spacecraft during the CRS-6 mission to the International Space Station on April 14. Video: SpaceX.

Where is SpaceX's launch site?

SpaceX continues to double down on their efforts to build a reusable rocket system. It’s all part of the company's increasingly large footprint on the Florida coast , where a former Atlas rocket launch site is being converted to a rocket stage landing complex. (Future Falcon landings may skip the barge altogether.)

Where is the Falcon Heavy launch site?

Meanwhile, over at Launch Complex 39A, the space shuttle's old pad, construction continues on a Falcon Heavy launch site. SpaceX hangar at pad 39A SpaceX's rocket assembly building is located just down the hill from pad 39A. The facilities will be used for the Falcon Heavy. Image: Jason Davis / The Planetary Society.

Why are SpaceX drones named?

If these colorful names have you scratching your head, you’re not alone. SpaceX’s fleet of drone ships are named to honor the science fiction author Ian M. Banks. Specifically, his novel The Player of Games, in which OCISLY and JRtI are sentient spaceships.

What is a Merlin rocket?

A merlin is a variety of medium-sized falcon. Since the Merlin engine is currently used to power Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, that fits nicely. SpaceX’s other rocket engines have equally avian monikers: Kestrel and Raptor.

Is space exploration a business?

Space exploration is serious business. Missions cost tens of millions of dollars and frequently put human lives on the line. That’s probably why rockets and spacecraft tend to have serious-sounding names.

Who is the CEO of SpaceX?

See, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is a pretty big fan of science fiction. One need look no further than his adoration for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for proof. He literally named his company’s future Mars-bound spacecraft Heart of Gold for this reason.

What is pacex rocket?

S paceX is a spaceflight company focused on building big-ass rockets capable of taking people to Mars, but it’s also a strangely famous purveyor of so-called “drone ships,” autonomous platforms floating in the ocean. By now, the world has seen the company manage to vertically land several rockets on one its two ocean drone ships.

How did John Banks die?

Banks, who was born in Scotland, died of cancer in 2013 at age 59. "Just Read the Instructions" has already participated in one rocket-landing test, and has the battle scars to prove it.

Where did Michael S. Smith go to college?

He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Who is the founder of SpaceX?

Banks. Late last month, SpaceX's billionaire founder and CEO Elon Musk announced that he had named the company's first spaceport drone ship "Just Read the Instructions.". The second autonomous boat, which is ...

Did the Falcon 9 rocket explode?

The bold and unprecedented maneuver — which came after the Falcon 9 had sent SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule toward the International Space Station on a cargo run for NASA — nearly worked. The rocket stage succeeded in hitting the drone ship, but it came down too hard and exploded. "Close, but no cigar this time.