The Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit was a boilerplate version of the

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

spacecraft manufactured by

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

. After using it for ground tests to rate Dragon's shape and mass in various tests, SpaceX launched it into

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

on the maiden flight of the

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

rocket, on June 4, 2010. SpaceX used the launch to evaluate the aerodynamic conditions on the spacecraft and performance of the carrier rocket in a real-world launch scenario, ahead of Dragon flights for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

under the

Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) was a NASA program to spur the development of Private spaceflight, private spacecraft and launch vehicles for deliveries to the International Space Station (ISS). Launched in 2006, COTS successful ...

program. The spacecraft orbited the Earth over 300 times before decaying from orbit and reentering the atmosphere on 27 June.

Delays

In September 2009, the launch was slated to occur no earlier than November 29, 2009, however the launch was subsequently postponed ten more times, to launch dates in February, March, April, May, and June 2010, for multiple reasons including finding an open launch date, approvals, and retesting. The launch date was eventually set for June 4, 2010.

Processing

On October 16, 2009, nine Merlin 1C engines of the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket intended to launch the Dragon were test fired at SpaceX's

rocket engine test facility A rocket engine test facility is a location where rocket engines may be tested on the ground, under controlled conditions. A ground test program is generally required before the engine is certified for flight. Ground testing is very inexpensive i ...

in McGregor, Texas. On January 2, 2010, the second stage of the Falcon 9 vehicle was test fired for the full duration required for orbital insertion, 345 seconds. By late February, the launch vehicle had been assembled and raised to its vertical position on the launch pad at

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), sometimes referred to as "Slick Forty," is one of two launch pad, launch pads located at the Integrate-Transfer-Launch Complex in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. It initially opened as Launch Complex ...

(SLC-40), having been rolled out to the launch pad on February 19. On March 13, 2010, the first stage engines successfully underwent a 3.5 second static test firing, having failed a previous attempt the day before.

Launch

SpaceX announced in September 2009 that the Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit would be the payload for the first Falcon 9 launch. At the time, launch was scheduled to occur no earlier than November 2009. The launch date had been delayed several times for various reasons, The spacecraft was launched and entered orbit on June 4, 2010. The first actual launch attempt targeted a four-hour launch window opening at 15:00 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) on 4 June 2010, with the possibility of a launch attempt the following day in the event that launch did not occur inside the 4 June window. The first attempt to launch the rocket, at 17:30 UTC, was aborted seconds prior to liftoff due to a reported out of range engine parameter, which later turned out to be a sensor error. The launch was rescheduled, with a successful liftoff taking place an hour and fifteen minutes later at 18:45 UTC (2:45 pm EDT). The vehicle reached orbit successfully, entering into a orbit. SpaceX employee Ken Bowersox stated that the rocket experienced "a little bit of roll at liftoff". This roll had stopped prior to the craft reaching the top of the lightning towers. A separate issue involved a moderate, uncorrected roll at the end of the second stage firing. The first stage, that is designed to be reusable, disintegrated during reentry, before the parachutes could be deployed.

Orbit

Following the launch, SpaceX left the qualification unit in low Earth orbit, where its orbit was allowed to decay and it reentered the atmosphere around 00:50 GMT on June 27, 2010. The qualification unit remained attached to the second stage of the launcher; production units separate for orbital maneuvering. SpaceX lost contact with the Dragon and the Falcon 9 second stage shortly after orbit was achieved, as the on-board batteries were only designed to last long enough to launch. They re-entered in the early morning hours (UTC) on June 27, 2010. Although exact location is uncertain, it is believed to have disintegrated over

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

UFO sightings

At around 5:30 am local time on June 5, 2010, sightings of a mysterious "lollipop-type swirl" light or cloud heading from west to east were reported in the Australian states of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, as well as the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

. The sightings were likened to the Russian

RSM-56 Bulava The RSM-56 Bulava (, " mace", NATO reporting names SS-N-30 / SS-NX-32, GRAU index 3M30, 3K30) is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) developed for the Russian Navy and deployed in 2019 on the new of ballistic missile nuclear submari ...

rocket launch that prompted similar video and images from the Arctic known as the 2009 Norwegian spiral anomaly; it was suggested that the visible object was the spent upper stage or the qualification unit launched aboard the Falcon 9 or both.

References

External links

Video of Falcon 9 launch from the KSC VAB roof
nbsp;– SpaceflightNews.net
Inaugural Falcon 9 / Dragon Flight Hardware Update
– SpaceX.com
Video of first stage test firing
nbsp;– SpaceX.com
Video of second stage testing firing
nbsp;– SpaceX.com
Dragon/Falcon 9 rocket – Orbit (Pre-Decay)
{{Orbital launches in 2010 SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft launched in 2010 Spacecraft which reentered in 2010 Spacecraft launched by Falcon rockets Individual space vehicles Test spaceflights Articles containing video clips