SpaceX Rocket Launch Set for Dec. 19 From Cape
By Space Coast Daily // December 14, 2014
launch window opens at 1:20 p.m.
ABOVE VIDEO: Replay of the SpaceX-3 Falcon 9 rocket as it lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.
BREVARD COUNTY • CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION – Be amazed at thunderous roar of the Falcon 9 rocket as it launches from Space Launch Complex- 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Dec. 19, at 1:20 pm.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is carrying the Dragon capsule to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and will arrive at the ISS on dec. 21.
This is the fifth resupply mission by SpaceX for NASA, bringing food and supplies, including new science experiments and technology research, to the crew aboard the ISS.
The payload includes the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System, or CATS, a laser instrument designed to measure clouds and the location and distribution of pollution, dust, smoke and other particles in the atmosphere.
The unique orbit of CATS allows it to observe the same area of Earth several times a day. By providing real time data, CATS improves detection of wildfires and forecasts of air quality and volcanic plumes.
Falcon 9 is SpaceX’s two-stage rocket manufactured to successfully transport satellites and their Dragon spacecraft into orbit.
Currently the only rocket fully designed and developed in the 21st century, Falcon 9 delivers payloads to space aboard the Dragon spacecraft or inside a composite fairing.
Safety and mission success were critical in the design of the Falcon 9 Rocket.
With a minimal number of separation events and nine first-stage Merlin engines, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is designed so that even if two of the engines shut down, the rocket can still operate.
In 2012, SpaceX became the first commercial company to rendezvous with the International Space Station.
Although these flights have been unmanned, SpaceX continues to work toward their goal of one day carrying astronauts to space in Dragon’s pressurized capsule.
To date, they have completed eight of eight attempted missions successfully.
