Autonomous spaceport drone ship

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).
Launch site	Just Read the Instructions: Cape Canaveral / KSC Of Course I Still Love You: Vandenberg A Shortfall of Gravitas: Cape Canaveral / KSC
Location	Just Read the Instructions: Port Canaveral Of Course I Still Love You: Port of Long Beach A Shortfall of Gravitas: Port Canaveral
Short name	ASDS
Operator	SpaceX
Launch pad(s)	4 oceangoing landing platforms (3 active; 1 retired)
Just Read the Instructions (I) landing history Status Retired (May 2015) Landings 2 (0 success, 2 failures) First landing 10 January 2015 (SpaceX CRS-5) Last landing 14 April 2015 (SpaceX CRS-6) Associated rockets Falcon 9 v1.1 Of Course I Still Love You landing history Status Active Landings 96 (88 successes, 8 failures) First landing 4 March 2016 (SES-9) Last landing 10 May 2024 (Starlink Group 8-2) Associated rockets Falcon 9 Full Thrust Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Just Read the Instructions (II) landing history Status Active Landings 82 (81 successes, 1 failure) First landing 17 January 2016 (Jason-3) Last landing 6 May 2024 (Starlink Group 6-57) Associated rockets Falcon 9 Full Thrust Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy A Shortfall of Gravitas landing history Status Active Landings 69 (69 success, 0 failures) First landing 29 August 2021 (SpaceX CRS-23) Last landing 13 May 2024 (Starlink Group 6-58) Associated rockets Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy (planned)

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]