| al.com (blog) - |
By Paul Huggins | phuggins@al.com CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on time this evening starting a new era for commercial spaceflight.
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SpaceX mission, first commercial supply run to space station, lifts off on schedule (updated)
Published: Sunday, October 07, 2012, 7:38 PM Updated: Sunday, October 07, 2012, 9:01 PM
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on time this evening starting a new era for commercial spaceflight.
The Falcon 9 rocket with Dragon capsule lifted from Cape Canaveral tonight, illuminating the sky much like this flight photo taken last May. (The Huntsville Times/NASA courtesy photo)
Carrying a Dragon supply capsule bound for the International Space Station, the SpaceX CRS-1 mission will dock in three days.
The mission marks the first of at least 12 SpaceX missions to the space station under the company's cargo resupply contract with NASA.
On board the Dragon spacecraft are materials to support investigations planned for the station's Expedition 33 crew, as well as crew supplies and space station hardware.
Dragon -- the only space station cargo craft capable of returning a significant amount of supplies back to Earth -- will return with scientific materials and hardware.
The Falcon 9 rocket, powered by nine Merlin engines, performed nominally during every phase of its approach to orbit, including two stage separations, solar array deployment and the final push of Dragon into its intended orbit.
Dragon will now chase the space station before beginning a series of burns that will bring it into close proximity to the station. If all goes well, Dragon will spend more than two weeks there before an expected return to Earth on Oct. 28.
"We are right where we need to be at this stage in the mission," Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and Chief Technical Officer, said in a SpaceX press release. "We still have a lot of work to do, of course, as we guide Dragon's approach to the space station. But the launch was an unqualified success."
This story was updated at 8:08 p.m. with a SpaceX press release.
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