Home » Home » NASA Green-Lights Previously-Flown Falcon 9 First Stage For Dragon Launch To ISS Dec. 8

NASA Green-Lights Previously-Flown Falcon 9 First Stage For Dragon Launch To ISS Dec. 8

By  //  December 2, 2017

'equivalent reliability for reused booster'

A Falcon 9 first stage landing after the June launch of a Dragon cargo spacecraft. NASA has approved using that stage for the Dec. 8 launch of another Dragon from Kennedy Space Center. (SpaceX image)

WASHINGTON DC (SpaceNews.com) — NASA officials said Nov. 29 that they have given their approval, as expected, to SpaceX’s use of a previously-flown Falcon 9 first stage on the next Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station.

Speaking at a meeting of the human exploration and operations committee of the NASA Advisory Council at the Kennedy Space Center, Sam Scimemi, director of the International Space Station at NASA Headquarters, said the Dec. 8 launch of a cargo resupply mission known as SpX-13 will use the booster from the June launch of another Dragon mission, SpX-11.

“This first stage we’ve looked at very carefully,” he said. “We know exactly what happened to this particular booster.”

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