Update May 15, 6:33 PM EDT (2233 UTC): SpaceX confirms successful separation of the Dragon spacecraft.
The third time was the charm when SpaceX successfully launched its Cargo Dragon spacecraft on Friday evening, loaded with 6,500 pounds of science and supplies for the International Space Station, after two delays earlier in the week due to bad weather.
The resupply mission launched at 6:05 p.m. EDT (2205 UTC) atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It was SpaceX’s 34th mission for NASA, funded by the agency’s Commercial Replenishment Services (CRS) contracts.
Slow-moving weather brought dense clouds and storms across Central Florida, disrupting launch efforts on Tuesday and Wednesday. The countdown reached T-28 seconds on Wednesday before being put on hold by the launch director due to the presence of lightning-inducing clouds around the launch pad.
The launch was rescheduled for Friday so ground crews could reload ‘late load’ items with short shelf life.
With high pressure building over central Florida, creating dry conditions, forecasters are calling for a 90 percent chance of acceptable weather for the launch, with only a small risk of violating the cumulus cloud rule.
Falcon 9 took off from Florida’s Space Coast, orbiting on a north-easterly trajectory, aiming for a rendezvous with the space station.
Less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster returned for touchdown at Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40) near SLC-40’s launch pad. It was the fourth booster recovery at this site and the 108th on-shore landing on the four pads used by SpaceX since 2015.
SpaceX launches CRS-34 mission using Falcon 9 first stage booster B1096. This was its sixth flight, following the launches of NASA’s IMAP, GPS III-9, NROL-77, Kuiper Falcon 01 and Starlink Group 6-87.
It was also the sixth flight of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft, serial number C209. It launched CRS-22, -24, -27, -30, and -32 missions. This was the first time that a cargo Dragon spacecraft had launched for the sixth time, but the second for the Dragon-2 program overall. Crew Dragon Endeavor had already flown for the sixth time.
The Falcon 9 separated from the second stage about 9.5 minutes into the Cargo Dragon mission, beginning an approximately 37-hour orbital search to reach the space station. It is set to connect with the orbiting outpost at approximately 7:05 a.m. EDT (1105 UTC) on Sunday, May 17.
