SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET LAUNCH SERIES

The Crew Dragon flight will carry two NASA rookies, Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, veteran Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Anna Kikina, a Russian cosmonaut making her first flight. The Dragon visit kicks off a busy few months for the ISS program, as training ramps up for Russian Soyuz and NASA Crew Dragon astronaut rotation flights expected in September. 'This is going to be a really busy mission for us, it's packed with a lot of science,' Weigel said. The Dragon's pressurized compartment, the section accessible by the astronauts inside the space station, is packed with 829 pounds of crew supplies, 2,468 pounds of science gear, 400 pounds of spacewalk equipment, 724 pounds of station hardware and 72 pounds of computer equipment. An iPhone captured a dramatic view of the Falcon 9 launch plume moments after the first stage fell away to begin its descent.ĭeveloped at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, EMIT will use imaging spectroscopy to measure the mineral composition of dust blown into the atmosphere from desert regions around the world to learn more how such materials are transported, how they affect temperature, air quality and the environment in general. The Dragon's unpressurized trunk section is carrying 1,200 pounds of equipment: a battery charge-discharge unit for the station's solar power system, and NASA's Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, or EMIT, instrument.

SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET LAUNCH SERIES

Over the next two days, the spacecraft will carry out a series of carefully choreographed rocket firings to catch up with the lab, moving in from behind and below before looping up to a point directly ahead of the outpost.įrom there, the Dragon will slowly move in for docking at the Harmony module's forward port around 11:20 a.m.

The Dragon was launched directly into the plane of that orbit, a requirement for rendezvous missions.

'So congratulations to everybody at SpaceX, and I know our scientists and cargo providers are looking forward to seeing the fruits of their labors arriving at ISS.'Īt the moment of launch, the ISS was sailing 260 miles above the South Pacific Ocean, about 20 minutes away from passing directly over the Kennedy Space Center. 'It really was a beautiful launch, and I'm excited to see CRS-25 Dragon headed to the space station,' said Dina Contella, space station operations integration manager. Dueling rocket plumes: as the second stage engine powered the cargo Dragon toward orbit, the first stage can be seen above, heading for landing. The deep twilight climb out of the atmosphere provided a riveting show for area residents and tourists, as the rocket ascended into sunlight with the exhaust plume from its engines billowing outward in a comet-like display, as one stage headed for orbit, and the other toward landing. One minute after that, the second stage finished the climb to space, and three minutes later, the Dragon cargo ship was released to fly on its it own. Making its fifth flight, the Falcon 9 first stage dropped away and flew itself to a successful landing on a SpaceX barge 7 ½ minutes after liftoff. EDT, when the Falcon 9's first stage engines ignited, throttled up to 1.7 million pounds of thrust, and smoothly pushed the rocket away from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX's CRS-25 cargo run got underway at 8:44 p.m. 'And that'll be part of what we need for our assessment for our eventual readiness when we look at returning back to nominal EVAs.' to really try to understand what happened,' Weigel said. 'That's really key for us, we've got to get (Maurer's) suit home to take a look at it. While the incident was not nearly as serious as a 2013 water intrusion that flooded Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano's helmet, normal spacewalks have been suspended until the issue is resolved.

Spacex falcon 9 rocket launch