Falcon 9 Upper Stage Burns Up in Atmosphere

Photo caption: Flight hardware for the inaugural launch of Falcon 9 rocket undergoing final integration in the hangar at SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral launch site in Florida. Components include: Dragon spacecraft qualification unit (left), second stage with Merlin Vacuum engine (center), first stage with nine Merlin 1C engines (right). (Credit: SpaceX)

Falcon rocket meets fiery end after three weeks in orbit
Spaceflight Now

After riding a flame into Earth orbit more than three weeks ago, the dormant upper stage of the first Falcon 9 rocket plunged back into the atmosphere this weekend, a fiery finale for the historic privately-developed spacecraft.

The Falcon second stage and cone-shaped Dragon spacecraft remained bolted together after launching June 4 from Cape Canaveral. The attached duo entered an orbit approximately 155 miles high with an inclination of 34.5 degrees, reaching a trajectory very close to its launch target within 10 minutes of liftoff.

About one hour later, the Falcon 9 second stage passed over Australia as it vented excess propellant from its fuel tanks. The rocket was spinning, displaying a corkscrewing cloud of vapor that touched off UFO reports.

As expected, the vehicle’s batteries ran out of power shortly after launch, leaving the inert rocket and spacecraft flying out of the control of engineers on the ground.

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