Hera

Hera launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA on October 7, 2024 at 14:52 UTC. It was SpaceX's 408th launch, 97th this year and humanity's 6,773rd orbital launch attempt. It was the 323rd Falcon 9 Block 5 flight and the 94th this year. Booster B1061 flew for the 23rd time and was expended. The payload was bound for Asteroid (Asteroid). 2 objects from this launch are catalogued, one of them a payload.

2 catalogued: 1 payload, 1 rocket stage

• HERA · NORAD 61449 · left Earth orbit October 7, 2024

Falcon 9-385 Stage 2 · left Earth orbit October 7, 2024

Data from J. McDowell, planet4589.org

Official page: SpaceX

• ESA · Oct 7Brake! Time for ESA’s Hera asteroid mission to go slowLaunched two years ago today, the European Space Agency’s Hera mission for planetary defence has been hurtling away from Earth ever since. The small-car-sized spacecraft is now preparing for its single most challenging activity since lift-off: the sustained braking manoeuvres to slow it down to approach its target asteroids.
• ESA · Oct 7The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – The space detectives arriveMeet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.
• ESA · Oct 7Finding Hera’s way: ESA’s Flight Dynamics team into actionThe European Space Agency’s Hera planetary defence mission team is preparing to light a fire in the sky. On the early morning of 15 October the small-car-sized spacecraft will burn its Orbit Control Thrusters in the direction of its target asteroid system for a total of 93 minutes continuously. This braking manoeuvre will bring it near to matching the orbital velocity of the Didymos binary asteroids.
• ESA · Oct 7Finding Hera’s way: Flight Dynamics team in actionThe European Space Agency’s Hera planetary defence mission team is preparing to light a fire in the sky. On the early morning of 15 October the small-car-sized spacecraft will burn its Orbit Control Thrusters in the direction of its target asteroid system for a total of 93 minutes continuously. This braking manoeuvre will bring it near to matching the orbital velocity of the Didymos binary asteroids.
• ESA · Sep 23A hitchhiker’s guide to Hera’s target asteroidsCurrently speeding through deep space at 12 km/s relative to Earth, ESA’s Hera spacecraft is due to reach its target Dimorphos asteroid this November. But if an astronaut were magically teleported onto the small-car-sized Hera upon arrival, what would they be seeing, and what would it feel like to walk on the asteroid’s surface?
• ESA · Sep 14Questions? Ask our Hera Space Companion!Meet a key member of our Hera asteroid mission team: the Hera Space Companion, not just an AI chatbot but a dynamic mission-linked communication platform, designed to make the European Space Agency’s first planetary defence mission accessible to everyone!
• ESA · Sep 10Name our dino – ESA’s Hera asteroid mission mascot!The European Space Agency’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence has a cartoon dinosaur for its mascot – because dinos were made extinct after an asteroid impact, but while they didn't have a space agency, people do! Now we’re asking you to supply our dino with a name, to win a place at November’s Hera arrival celebration.
• ESA · Aug 18Hera's Mars flyby guided impact study of Deimos moonFrom the ESA Blogs.

• Previous Falcon 9 Block 5 flightCrew-9Sep 28, 2024
• Next Falcon 9 Block 5 flightStarlink Group 10-10Oct 15, 2024
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• ProviderAll SpaceX launches
• RocketAll Falcon 9 launches
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