1 of 3 | A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Dragon spacecraft at 2:48 a.m. Saturday from Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Photo by Joe Marino-Bill Cantrell/UPI |
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 4 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched the CRS-17 cargo mission to the International Space Station at 2:48 a.m. Saturday, carrying 5,500 pounds of research, crew supplies and hardware.
The supplies rode in a Dragon capsule aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The materials will support dozens of science and research investigations during ISS Expeditions 59 and 60, including NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 that will be installed robotically on the exterior of the space station.
SpaceX successfully landed the first-stage booster from the rocket on the company's "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship about 12 miles off the coast. The Dragon capsule separated and was confirmed as traveling in a good orbit.
The space station is set to capture the spacecraft and connect to it early Monday morning.
Kenny Todd, manager of operations and integration for the space station, said in a NASA news conference after the launch that the space station is scheduled to capture the Dragon scapecraft at 7 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday. The station will complete bolting to the spacecraft at 10:30 a.m.
"If everything works out all right, we'll open the hatch at the end of the crew day on Monday," Todd said.
Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX vice president of build and flight reliability, said he had run outside to see the booster coming back to the droneship over the Atlantic Ocean. That booster is set to be used again on CRS-18, the next cargo launch to the space station, in mid-July.
"That looked really, really cool in the night sky," Koenigsmann said.
The liftoff had been planned for Wednesday but an issue with the International Space Station's electrical power system earlier in the week caused a delay. Another electrical problem on the droneship prompted a late scrub for an early Friday launch attempt. The ship had sailed into port briefly for a repair Friday.
The launch was a week after SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, a different model meant to carry people, exploded in a test firing. SpaceX and NASA officials said the SpaceX cargo missions shouldn't be delayed or affected by the Crew Dragon problem.
It was the 17th SpaceX mission under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract. The spacecraft previously flew on the CRS-12 mission.
