All Hail The Aero-Heroes of 2010!

by ANN News Editor Tom Patton

It is both the most "fun," and most difficult, task facing the ANN staff at the end of every year -- determining who, or what, did the most to promote the cause of aviation in the past 365 days... while also chastising those people or entities that did all they could to undermine the many successes the aviation/aerospace community has managed to accomplish.
 
Thankfully, 2010 was a year in which we saw the best and brightest among us step forward and work tirelessly on behalf of us all. No doubt about it... the challenges we faced in 2010 were numerous, and ongoing... so was the quality of expertise and passion brought to our defense by those who heroically demonstrated to the world the very best side of aviation... via their deeds, words and actions.
 
It is ANN's honor to recognize persons/organizations or groups that qualify as our Aero-Heroes for 2010...  in something of an informal order -- Saving the 'best' for last. Let us know what you think of our selections... whom YOU would have liked be included or omitted from such a list. In the meantime, we thank the folks who made this year's list. Thank you, folks... we really needed you this year, and you didn't let us down.

ANN will continue to list our remaining Top choices over the next few day's, but in order to kick off the New Year right, let's enjoy another selection from our Heroes List for 2010...

Aero-Hero: SpaceX

When discussing the year's biggest accomplishments, it would be impossible not to put SpaceX at the top of the list. The company this year proved that it does not require the government to safely put an object into orbit, and return it safely to Earth, and may well have given us a glimpse of the future of U.S. human spaceflight.

The accomplishment did not come without a few hiccups along the way, but we learned from those setbacks that there might be a more efficient way to do things. When problems arose with the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, SpaceX proved that it does not require weeks of study and a half dozen committees to solve a problem and put a program back on track. From a pre-ignition abort during an engine test in March to the discovery of small cracks in the rocket's second stage engine nozzle prior to the second  launch, SpaceX took the setbacks in stride, solved problems, and moved ahead.

On June 5th, we were privileged to be able to watch the first launch of an entirely privately-funded space vehicle at Cape Canaveral. While the launch finally occurred at just 15 minutes prior to the close of a day-long launch window, the Falcon 9 rocket boosted a payload into precisely the intended orbit. SpaceX said nominal shutdown and orbit was almost exactly 250km. Telemetry showed essentially a bullseye: ~0.2% on perigee and ~1% on apogee.

The day was not without its drama.  First, there was the weather, and then a telemetry issue with the vehicle destruct system pushed the launch into the afternoon. That problem was no sooner resolved than a small sailboat strayed into the launch safety range, causing it to go red again. Finally, at shortly after one, the countdown resumed. But at T- :02 seconds, the launch was aborted, as an engine parameter fell out of its nominal range. The rocket scientists at SpaceX worked through that problem with the launch window deadline looming. The countdown resumed about 1430, and 15 minutes later, Falcon 9 rumbled, and lifted into the sky on her way to orbit.

SpaceX repeated the success, becoming the first commercial company in history to re-enter a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit. SpaceX launched its Dragon spacecraft into low-Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 1043 EST from Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral on December 8th. SpaceX had been granted the first-ever permit from the FAA to recover an object from orbit in November, and less than a month later, they pulled off a feat performed by only six nations or government agencies: the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, and the European Space Agency. The Dragon vehicle made a couple of trips around the Earth and successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about three hours later.

The launch was delayed for a day when a routine inspection of the launch vehicle turned up two small cracks in the rocket's second stage engine nozzle. SpaceX completed repairs to the cracked nozzle within a day, and the launch went off without a hitch the following day.

What SpaceX was able to accomplish this year was truly remarkable. In many ways, the entire commercial spaceflight industry was riding on that first Falcon 9 launch in June, and the fact that it went off successfully, and was followed by a second, successful launch and recovery of the Dragon vehicle from orbit has moved the U.S. a giant step closer to the reality of commercial re-supply of ISS, and eventual commercial transportation of crews to and from the station. For being first, and doing it well, SpaceX is one of ANN's heroes of 2010.

FMI: www.spacex.com