TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)Falcon 9 Block 4 SpaceX Launch Status Success Wed ยท Apr 18th, 2018 6:51 PM - 6:52 PM EDT Watch Online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBCBThgIBmA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY-0uBIYYKk Mission TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) Type: Astrophysics The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a NASA space telescope, designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method. TESS will identify planets ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants, orbiting a wide range of stellar types and orbital distances. The principal goal of the TESS mission is to detect small planets with bright host stars in the solar neighborhood, so that detailed characterizations of the planets and their atmospheres can be performed. Location Space Launch Complex 40 Cape Canaveral, FL, USA 214 rockets have launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, USA. Rocket Falcon 9 Block 4 Length: 71 meters Diameter: 3.65 meters First Launch: December 22, 2015 The Full Thrust variants first stage includes all systems necessary for an operational re-use of stages while the second stage is operated as an expendable rocket stage. The Falcon 9 Block 4 rocket has been launched a total of 12 times with 12 successful and 0 failed launches. Landing The first stage of the Falcon 9 landed on the ASDS, OCISLY, stationed of the east coast. Of Course I Still Love You – OCISLY The second ASDS barge, Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) services launches in the Atlantic Ocean and was the site of the first landing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage during CRS-8, the launch of a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship – ASDS 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. Construction of such ships was commissioned by aerospace company SpaceX to allow for recovery of rocket first-stages at sea for high-velocity missions which do not carry enough fuel to return to the launch site after lofting spacecraft onto an orbital trajectory. Agency SpaceX Type: Commercial Abbreviation: SpX Administration: CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Launchers: Falcon Spacecraft: Dragon Country: USA Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX has many pads, on the East Coast of the US they own SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral and LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center for their lower inclination launches. They also own SLC-4E at Vandenberg, California for their high inclination launches. Another site is also being developed at Boca Chica, Texas. View Rocket Launch Schedule