SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Launch Set For April 10
By NASA // March 29, 2015
will blast off from Launch Complex 40
ABOVE VIDEO: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket 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 – The SpaceX Falcon 9 is set to launch from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on April 10 at 5:42 p.m.
This will be the sixth operational cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station for SpaceX under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
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.
