SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, with the company’s uncrewed Dragon spacecraft on top, lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida right on time, at 8:30 p.m. EDT. Credit: NASA Dragon is now safely in orbit. A series of thruster firings will help Dragon reach the space station about 36 hours later. Upon its arrival, it will autonomously dock to the station’s Harmony module, with NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg monitoring operations. Live coverage of Dragon’s arrival will air on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency’s website beginning at 6:15 a.m. Thursday, March 16. Docking is scheduled for approximately 7:52 a.m. In addition to delivering station supplies, fresh food, and hardware, Dragon also will deliver multiple science and research investigations, including the final two experiments of the National Institutes for Health and International Space Station National Laboratory’s Tissue Chips in Space initiative. Both experiments – the Cardinal Heart 2.0 and Engineered Heart Tissues-2 – use small devices containing living cells that mimic functions of heart tissues and organs to understand the role of microgravity on human health and use this information to improve health on Earth. Dragon will spend about a month attached to the space station before autonomously undocking and returning to Earth with research and return cargo, splashing down in the off the coast of Florida. Liftoff occurred at 8:30 p.m. EDT, as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rumbled off the pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This began Dragon’s two-day journey to the International Space Station. Soon after, the nine Merlin engines in the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage finished their burn, and the first stage separated from the vehicle. A little more than five minutes later, as the second stage continued carrying Dragon on its journey, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage stuck the landing. It touched down successfully on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic Ocean. Today’s launch marked the seventh flight for this Falcon 9, and it is the second Dragon flight to the International Space Station this year – the first occurring just under two weeks ago. Next, SpaceX’s uncrewed Dragon spacecraft separated from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage, as the spacecraft continues its journey to the International Space Station to deliver critical supplies, equipment, and material to support multiple science and research experiments that will take place aboard the orbiting laboratory. Dragon is expected to arrive at the space station around 7:52 a.m. EDT Thursday, March 16, docking to the station’s Harmony port – recently vacated by SpaceX’s crewed Dragon, named Endurance, which returned NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 crew members Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata, and Anna Kikina to Earth on March 11.
Fun Facts About This Launch
This is the seventh flight of this SpaceX Falcon 9 rocketTonight’s launch marks SpaceX’s second Dragon launch of 2023 and the company’s 216th mission overallThis is the third flight for this uncrewed Dragon spacecraftTeams plan to recover the Falcon 9’s first stage following its return to Earth – if successful, this will be the 178th recovery of an orbital class rocketTonight’s recovery operations are being managed by an all-female crew stationed on SpaceX’s drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” off the coast of Florida
