Live streaming of the countdown and launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will launch SpaceX’s 25th resupply mission to the International Space Station. Follow us on Twitter.
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SpaceX’s 25th cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station lifted off at 8:44 p.m. EDT Thursday (0044 GMT Friday) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A Falcon 9 rocket launched the Dragon capsule toward the station with nearly three tons of cargo.
Liftoff from Pad 39A at Kennedy occurred precisely at 20:44:22 EDT (0044:22 GMT), about the time when Earth’s rotation brings the launch site below the orbital plane of the space station.
There was a 70 percent chance of favorable launch weather Thursday, according to the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron. The main weather concerns were for cumulus clouds that could create a risk of lightning and flying through precipitation.
But the weather slowed Thursday to allow the Falcon 9 to lift off from Florida’s Space Coast.
After liftoff, the Falcon 9 headed northeast of Kennedy, powered by nine Merlin engines generating 1.7 million pounds of thrust. The rocket shut down its first booster stage about two and a half minutes into the mission, allowing the booster to descend to land on a drone ship about 186 miles (300 kilometers) down in the Atlantic Ocean about seven and a half to a half minutes after liftoff.
The booster, tail number B1067, made its fifth flight on the CRS-25 mission. It previously launched the CRS-22 cargo mission last June, launched two NASA crewed missions to the station, and launched Turkey’s Turksat 5B communications satellite into space.
The Dragon spacecraft deployed from the Falcon 9 upper stage about 12 minutes after liftoff to begin the day-and-a-half trip to the International Space Station. The Dragon cargo capsule of the CRS-25 mission launched on its third flight to the station.
Located in a launch hall at Kennedy Launch Control Center, the SpaceX launch team began loading supercooled, condensed kerosene and liquid oxygen into the 215-foot (65-meter) Falcon 9 vehicle at T-minus 35 minutes.
During the last half hour of the countdown, pressurized helium also leaked into the rocket. In the final seven minutes before liftoff, Falcon 9’s main Merlin engines were thermally conditioned for flight through a procedure known as “cooling down.” Falcon 9’s guidance and safety systems were also configured for launch.
SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket lift off from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida before the launch of the company’s 25th cargo mission to the International Space Station. Credit: SpaceX
With a timely launch Thursday evening, the Dragon cargo ship is scheduled to automatically dock with the space station’s Harmony module at 11:20 a.m. EDT (1520 GMT) on Saturday.
Astronauts on the space station will open hatches and unpack supplies, experiments and other equipment stowed in the pressurized compartment of the Dragon capsule. At the end of the mission, the reusable capsule will detach from the station and head for a parachute drop off the coast of Florida in mid-August with several tons of cargo.
The cargo ship launched with about 5,800 pounds of supplies and payloads, including a NASA climate instrument that will be mounted outside the space station.
The Surface Mineral Dust Instrument, or EMIT, was developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It will be attached to a mounting post outside the space station to measure the mineral content of the world’s desert regions, a source of global dust storms that can affect global climate and weather.
The data collected by the instrument will help scientists learn more about how dust blown into the atmosphere by deserts affects Earth’s ecosystems and human health.
“This is going to be a really busy mission for us,” said Dana Weigel, deputy manager of NASA’s space station program. “It’s full of a lot of science. The planned duration is about 33 days.”
The mission was originally scheduled to launch in early June, but SpaceX delayed the flight to allow a leak in the Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system and to replace the capsule’s four main parachutes as a precaution in case the chute material breaks down from the toxic fuel leak
ROCKET: Falcon 9 (B1067.5)
PAYLOAD: Cargo Dragon (CRS-25)
LAUNCH SITE: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
RELEASE DATE: July 14, 2022
LAUNCH TIME: 20:44:22 EDT (0044:22 GMT on July 15))
WEATHER FORECAST: 70% chance of fair weather; Low risk of upper level winds; Low risk of adverse conditions for booster recovery
BOOSTER RECOVERY: ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ drone ship east of Jacksonville, Florida
LAUNCH AZIMUTH: Northeast
TARGET ORBIT: 118 miles by 130 miles (190 kilometers by 210 kilometers), 51.6 degree inclination
LAUNCH SCHEDULE:
- T+00:00: Take off
- T+01:12: Maximum aerodynamic pressure (Max-Q)
- T+02:27: First Stage Main Engine Shutdown (MECO)
- T+02:30: Stage split
- T+02:38: Second stage engine ignition
- T+02:43: Primary boost backfire (three engines)
- T+03:15: First stage boost cutoff
- T+05:45: Ignition of first entry stage (three engines)
- T+05:59: Interrupt burn on first stage entry
- T+07:06: First stage landing ignition (one engine)
- T+07:33: First stage landing
- T+08:37: Second stage engine shutdown (SECO 1)
- T+11:49: Separation of Cargo Dragon
MISSION STATISTICS:
- The 164th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
- 172nd launch of the Falcon rocket family since 2006
- 5th Falcon 9 B1067 booster launch
- The 143rd Falcon 9 launch from Florida’s Space Coast
- SpaceX’s 51st launch from Pad 39A
- 145th launch overall from pad 39A
- 106th flight of a reusable Falcon 9 booster
- 5th launch of the upgraded Cargo Dragon
- SpaceX’s 25th cargo mission to the International Space Station
- 2022 Falcon 9’s 30th launch
- 30th SpaceX launch in 2022
- 30th orbital launch from Cape Canaveral in 2022
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