SpaceX Reschedules Launch For April 13
By Space Coast Daily // April 1, 2015
WILL BLAST OFF FROM LAUNCH COMPLEX 40
BREVARD COUNTY • CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FLORIDA – The Falcon 9 launch of SpaceX’s next resupply run to the International Space Station has been rescheduled for 4:33 p.m. on April 13, officials said Tuesday.
The rocket will blastoff from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. This will be the sixth operational cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station for SpaceX under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
The Falcon 9 rocket’s liftoff from Cape Canaveral was due for no earlier than April 10, but the launch date has been delayed to April 13.
The mission will send SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship into orbit in pursuit of the space station.
The Dragon capsule will carry several tons of provisions and experiments to the complex, where the lab’s Canadian-built robot arm will grapple the SpaceX-owned spaceship after a laser-guided final approach.
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.
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BEOW 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.
