On this edition of Last Week in Space, our Director of Content Robin Seemangal is joined by seasoned aerospace photographers Tom Cross and Pauline Acalin, who were on the road last week traveling to SpaceX’s facility in Boca Chica, Texas and made their way to California for the company’s latest Falcon 9 launch.
Photo By Pauline Acalin
On Wednesday morning, June 12th, SpaceX successfully launched three of the Canadian Space Agency’s RADARSAT satellites from Vandenberg Air Force base atop a previously-flown rocket. Minutes later, the booster came soaring back to Earth for a touchdown just 1,400 feet away from the pad, marking the second-ever rocket landing in California.
Photo By Pauline Acalin
Before arriving in California, Pauline and Tom made a stop at the Mexican-American border town of Boca Chica, where SpaceX is attempting to realize their vision of launching humans to Mars.
Photo by Tom Cross
At the remote facility, SpaceX has begun manufacturing what they’ve now dubbed the Starship Hopper, a prototype testing vehicle that will be a precursor to a massive multi-purpose spaceship that can carry humans to destinations throughout the solar system.
Photo by Tom Cross
The Supercluster team will be working alongside Tom Cross and Pauline Acalin at Kennedy Space Center in just two weeks as SpaceX prepares to launch their next Falcon Heavy mission. Track the Falcon Heavy STP-2 event on Supercluster’s launch tracker and check out a recap video of our last encounter with the most powerful rocket in the world.