Today at 2:48 a.m. EDT (2:48 p.m. GMT+8), SpaceX's Dragon has successfully launched on its 17th Commercial Resupply Service for NASA to the International Space Station. Dragon is carrying 5,500 tons of experiments and supplies and is expecting to arrive to the station in a couple of days.
Live coverage from SpaceX webcast and NASA TV showed Falcon 9 and Dragon launched on time at 2:48 a.m. EDT (2:48 p.m. GMT+8). The entire procedure took Dragon approximately 12 minutes and 50 seconds from launch until the full deployment of its two solar arrays.
About 6 minutes and 54 seconds into the launch, the Falcon 9 first stage began its re-entry burn to slow down the booster while re-entry the Earth atmosphere. The view of the booster's landing burn as its slowing down towards the company's drone ship was captured by SpaceX via an infrared camera.
At 8 minutes and 37 seconds into the flight, SpaceX ground team had confirmed that the booster had landed on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, parked about 17 miles off coast from Cape Canaveral. While the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket continued its way into orbit, Dragon was confirmed for separation from the second stage at T+ 9 minutes and 55 seconds. The experimental equipment can be seen clearly inside Dragon's trunk.
SpaceX team also confirmed that the spacecraft is now in a good orbit and heading towards the International Space Station for crew capture and berthing in another couple of days. Dragon capture will be broadcast live on NASA TV on early Monday morning.
With today's first stage landing, SpaceX has successfully recovered 38 Falcon boosters on the company's drone ships and at landing zones at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Vandenberg Air Force Base. Another Falcon booster core from the Falcon Heavy's second launch in April this year landed on the SpaceX's drone ship, but tipped before it could be brought back to port due to rough sea.
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