This article is about the SpaceX barges. For the general topic, see floating launch vehicle operations platform.
For booster recoveries on land, see SpaceX Landing Zones
"Just Read the Instructions", "Of Course I Still Love You", and "A Shortfall of Gravitas" redirect here. For the fictional spaceships created by Iain M. Banks, see Culture series.
Autonomous spaceport drone ship
Of Course I Still Love You carries the first first stage to successfully land on a drone ship (Falcon 9 Full Thrust, SpaceX CRS-8, 8 April 2016).
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 positioned when on station for a landing. Construction of the drone ships was commissioned by aerospace company SpaceX to allow recovery of launch vehicle boosters at sea for missions that do not carry sufficient fuel to return to the launch site after boosting spacecraft onto an orbital or interplanetary trajectory.[1][2]
SpaceX has three operational drone ships: Just Read the Instructions (II) (JRTI) and A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG), operating in the Atlantic for launches from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY), operating in the Pacific for supporting missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base.[3] JRTI operated in the Pacific Ocean for Vandenberg Air Force Base launches from 2016 to 2019 before leaving the Port of Los Angeles in August 2019.
The ASDS are a key early component of the SpaceX objective to significantly lower the price of space launch services through "full and rapid reusability",[4] part of the multi-year reusable rocket development program engineered by SpaceX.
SpaceX offers three options, depending on launch requirements: landing on land, landing at sea, or expending the first stage; in order of increased performance and cost. Any Falcon flights launched into geostationary orbit or exceeding escape velocity require landing at sea, or expending the first stage.[5]
Less demanding launches from Florida can return to Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, while less demanding launches from California can return to Landing Zone 4. Around three quarters of recovered Falcon boosters land at sea as of 2022[update].[6]
^@elonmusk (12 January 2016). "Aiming to launch this weekend and (hopefully) land on our droneship. Ship landings needed for high velocity missions" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^@elonmusk (17 January 2016). "If speed at stage separation > ~6000 km/hr. With a ship, no need to zero out lateral velocity, so can stage at up to ~9000 km/h" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^@GavinCornwell (13 July 2021). "OCISLY after reaching Port of Long Beach in Los Angeles, California" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^Cite error: The named reference cbs20141216 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^SpaceX Dragon Headed to the ISS. 8 April 2016. Archived from the original on 25 March 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2016 – via YouTube.
^29 boosters on land vs 132 at sea as of December 15, 2022
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