art SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster Landing on OCISLY ~1 minute read

SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster Landing on OCISLY

My rendition of a Falcon 9 booster landing on Of Course I Still Love You, SpaceX’s East coast droneship. This is a triple-engine landing burn; while SpaceX hasn’t performed a triple-engine landing burn since JCSAT-16, very heavy GTO payloads at the edge of Falcon 9’s capability may require triple-engine landing burns in the future.

In this image, the two outer engines have begun to shut down, allowing the single center engine to precisely control the vehicle during the final stages of landing on the droneship. Before landing, water was sprayed onto the steel deck; the engine exhaust instantly vaporizes it into steam and blows it off the deck.