SpaceX launch Crew 2 mission on April 23: What happens to stage 2 of Falcon 9?

The SpaceX launch has been a popular topic of discussion amongst internet users lately. They have been trying to know more information about the Falcon 9 rocket used and are thus asking some specific questions like what happens to stage 2. To help them, here is a total explanation of how the Falcon 9 rocket works. That can certainly answer their question of what happens to stage 2. Read more about the SpaceX Crew 2 mission. 

What happens to stage 2?

The Falcon 9 used in the SpaceX Crew 2 mission has a total of two stages. The first stage has the nine Merlin engines and aluminium-lithium alloy tanks that carry the liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellant. This helps Falcon 9 to generate over 1.7 million pounds of thrust at sea level. The second stage is powered by a single Merlin Vacuum Engine. This helps the rocket to deliver the desired payload to the orbit they want to. The engine located in the second stage helps to ignite a few seconds after the stage separation has been initiated. It will achieve its orbit and will be left there until its orbit decays. This can also be restarted multiple times that can help the makers to add a number of other payloads into different orbits. 

More about the Falcon 9 rocket

Falcon 9 is basically a reusable, two-stage rocket that has been designed and manufactured by SpaceX. The main aim behind getting this rocket to use is to introduce a reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into and outside the Earth’s orbit. It also happens to be the world’s first orbital-class reusable rocket and since has gained a lot of attention. The main motive for using these reusable rockets is to make the most out of the expensive parts of the rocket. This will help the company to drastically reduce the cost of space access easily. Apart from this, we have also managed to gather a lot of details about the Falcon 9 rocket right here. 

Falcon 9 Overview

• Height: 70 m / 229.6 ft
• DiameterL 3.7 m / 12 ft
• Mass: 549,054 kg / 1,207,920 lb
• Payload to LEO: 22,800 kg / 50,265 lb
• Payload to GTO 8,300 kg / 18,300 lb
• Payload to MARS: 4,020 kg / 8,860 lb

Promo Image Source: SpaceX Twitter