Horizon IFT-3

This is the third test flight of the Horizon program.
IFT-3 lifted off on April 28 at 4:50 PM.
The main goals of this test flight is to improve components that suffered issues on the first and second test flights. One goal was to test the new payload dome on the ship. Another goal was to test the new launch pad. And another was to test the improved hotstaging ring on the booster.
But the main goal was to land the Horizon booster(B12) back at a landing pad near the launch site.

After liftoff, the booster propelled the ship through Max-Q and then to hotstaging. First the outer 12 engines shut down, then 3 of the inner seven, and then the ship ignited its engines and separated from the booster.
B12 started up its boostback burn with 7/7 engines running, while the ship continued on into space. After the boostback burn ended, B12 orientated itself for reentry.
At this point B12 is go for a land return.
As B12 started up its entry burn at 95km, the booster changed its pitch which sadly indicated it was no longer go for land return, but would instead perform a soft splashdown attempt.
The No Go reason at the time was believed to be a grid fin issue with it being stuck, but was later revealed to be an issue with the landing legs in which a failure could result in damage to surrounding infrastructure.
The booster still performed a nominal splashdown attempt igniting 7 engines then 4 for a nice soft splashdown.

The Ship reached orbit at this time and deployed it payload. It also performed a test with the new payload dome door, which went smoothly.

The Ship deorbited and performed a nominal reentry and landing attempt in the ocean.

Although our team is frustrated at the booster landing abort, but they were excited to improve it for the next flight.The problem with the landing legs was caused by a snapped hinge that fell off during the boostback, which at the time was believed to be frost. We are always pushing towards new advances in our rockets. IFT-4 will most likely be scheduled for late May or early June. The FAA is not requiring a mishap investigation for this test flight.

This is the actual craft and announcement for IFT-3, when flying the rocket yourself, the booster may,very rarely, actually try to land on land.If a need to lower or increase throttle during the booster and ship landings, then do it. The Ship is supposed to land in the ocean, but might land on land.