Posted on 12/06/2020 4:30:43 PM PST by BenLurkin
An upgraded version of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo freighter launched Sunday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, loaded with 3.2 tons of supplies and experiments in the first of at least nine resupply flights to the International Space Station under a new NASA contract.
The cargo capsule lifted off on top of a 215-foot-tall (65-meter) Falcon 9 rocket at 11:17:08 a.m. EST (1617:08 GMT) Sunday, vaulting away from pad 39A with 1.7 million pounds of thrust from nine Merlin main engines.
The launch signaled the start of SpaceX’s 21st operational resupply flight to the space station, and the first using the company’s new generation of Dragon cargo capsules. The first 20 flights, spanning a period from 2012 until earlier this year, used a now-retired version of the Dragon spacecraft.
The second-generation Dragon supply ship is based on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle designed to fly with astronauts. On the cargo capsule, SpaceX removed the crew-rated ship’s launch abort system and replaced the vehicle’s touchscreen displays and seats with racks and freezers to hold supplies and experiments.
The Cargo Dragon rocketed to the northeast on top of the Falcon 9 rocket, flying with a first stage booster recovered after three previous flights.
Around two-and-a-half minutes into the mission, after the Falcon 9 surpassed the speed of sound and soared into the upper atmosphere, the booster shut down its engines and separated to begin descent maneuvers targeting a SpaceX landing platform parked several hundred miles northeast of the Kennedy Space Center in the Atlantic Ocean.
(Excerpt) Read more at spaceflightnow.com ...
Amazing stuff from SpaceX!
Econoline Cargo Van vs. Club Wagon Window Van...
Go Musk. I want flying cars and boats.
Are they electric?
Well they have a lot of electronics on board but the propulsion is good old liquid oxygen and kerosene.
Cool as hell. Elon’s putting the suspense, excitement, and anticipation in spaceflight again. I envision an occasional catastrophe in the future, but spending small and playing it safe (like NASA) will amount to nothing more than a model rocketry club launching Estes rockets on the weekend. Go big, go bold.
I want the underground tube shuttle driven by air like the ones at outdoor banking lanes. Imagine having that betw the 25 largest metro areas in the country.
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