If you’re a SpaceX fan, you will be familiar with classic shots like this.
When it comes to spaceflight, rocket companies usually go above and beyond to document every
aspect of their launches.
Back in the Apollo days, TV stations covered the entire length of the Apollo 11 mission
in great detail, reaching a viewership of 600 million people around the world when
Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
Neil Armstrong: "That's one small step for man"
The recent Falcon Heavy launch had over 1 million people watching live on YouTube alone.
Thanks to the broadcast teams, we are able to watch these rockets go on their incredible journeys.
But what about the rocket journeys we don’t get to see?
In this video, we are going to look at the challenging cross-country journey the
Falcon 9 has to go through in order to reach the launch pad.
We’re also going to talk about the transportation methods that are used and the alternative
methods that were used in the past.
SpaceX manufactures the Falcon 9 rocket at their facility in Hawthorne California although
the majority of their rockets launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
This means they have to go through a two and a half thousand mile journey
just to get to the launch site.
In order to get to Cape Canaveral, the Falcon 9 travels in different parts on the back of
a huge semi-truck.
But even before that, every new Merlin engine is transported to their testing facility in
McGregor, Texas where it’s put through a full static fire test.
Each engine is then transported back to Hawthorne to be attached to the Falcon 9’s first stage.
Then, the enormous first stage makes its long journey by road to Cape Canaveral, often stopping
off in McGregor to perform more static fire tests as a whole unit.
The 2nd stage, fairings and each of the 4 landing legs are all transported to the Cape
separately by truck.
SpaceX typically contracts private hauling companies like EZE Trucking and Beyel Brothers
to transport their Falcon 9 rockets using custom built cradles fitted to a 44 wheeled trailer.
The Falcon 9 parts are wrapped in a black fabric which protects them from any damage
that could be sustained during the two and a half thousand mile drive.
Once they reach the Cape, the Falcon 9 is unwrapped and checked before being handed
over to SpaceX, who then transport the rocket to the assembly building on a vehicle they
recently bought from Nasa.
This transporter was used to haul the Space Shuttle to the assembly building where it
was attached to it’s boosters.
Once the Falcon 9 is assembled in it’s hangar, the transporter-erector moves it out to the
launch pad horizontally and then raises it into its final position, ready for launch.
Unlike most rockets, the Falcon 9’s journey isn’t over after it places it’s payload into orbit.
Since SpaceX intend to re-use their rockets, more transportation is needed.
When the Falcon 9 lands on the autonomous drone ship placed in the Atlantic Ocean,
recover vessels GoQuest and GoSearcher will typically be on standby with crew to secure the Falcon 9
to the drone ship and tow it back to the port at Cape Canaveral.
So far, SpaceX has only been recovering the first stage of their rockets, and although
this is the largest and most expensive part of the Falcon 9, SpaceX’s long term aim
is to make rockets FULLY reusable.
When SpaceX were designing the Falcon 9, the diameter of the rocket was limited to 3.7m,
so that the rocket would fit under every bridge and overpass it would come across on it’s
journey from California to Florida.
This begs the question, why transport rockets by road?
In the past, there have been many different methods for transporting large rocket parts.
Back in the 60’s and 70’s, NASA used a sea transport system to transport the massive
Saturn 5 first stage to Florida.
This involved a 10 day, 2000 mile journey from Huntsville to Mississippi on the Tennessee River,
and then all the way down the Mississippi River and round the South coast of Florida
to Cape Kennedy where the Saturn 5 was assembled and launched.
Since the second stage was manufactured in California, it had to be transported by barge
through the Panama canal and back up to Florida.
NASA used cargo planes to transport the 3rd stage and the instrument unit to Cape Kennedy.
Being only 6.5m in diameter, they were able to squeeze into a cargo aircraft aptly named
“Guppy”, specifically designed for loads like this.
Although sea transport was the main method of transporting the Saturn 5, there were times
when road transport was needed.
This proved to be very challenging for the first and second stages, since they were 10m
in diameter, a whole 3 times wider than the Falcon 9.
Sea transit might have been the most practical transport method for the Saturn 5,
simply because it was so big.
But for rockets like the Falcon 9, shipping the parts this way is not very practical at all.
Today, SpaceX keeps it simple by transporting nearly all of their rocket parts on land.
Not only is this method the most practical for SpaceX, but it’s also a lot cheaper
than the alternative air and sea methods.
So there you have it, it turns out there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes
in transporting these incredibly large rocket parts all across the country.
If you’d like to know more about what goes on behind the scenes of a rocket launch,
check out my video on how rocket launches are filmed.
If you have any questions be sure to leave them in the comments below and make sure you’re
subscribed so you can join the discussion as we continue to learn more about all things space.
Thank you very much for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.