On June 3rd, 2017, yet another Falcon 9 booster launched from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, this time carrying the 11th SpaceX Commercial Resupply mission to the International Space Station. This mission is noteworthy for 2 reasons:
- This is the 100th launch from LC-39A, which was first used for the Apollo 4 Saturn V launch in 1967.
- This is the first time a Dragon capsule has been re-flown – The Dragon capsule used in this launch is the same one that flew for the CRS-4 mission.
In reusing these capsules, SpaceX hopes to be able to divert resources to production of their Dragon V2 spacecraft, which is intended to send crews to the Space Station.
Beyond those facts of note, it was a perfectly normal SpaceX launch, with a perfectly normal 1st stage landing – these things aren’t even all that exciting anymore, honestly.
This morning, June 5th, the Dragon was successfully captured and berthed to the Space Station, and I’m certain as I type the rather scant 2 person crew onboard is beginning to unload the cargo the vehicle brought up to the station.
As always, it’s time to share the launch, but this time, I’m going to share the NASA feed – This is another case where SpaceX went back to their Hosted and Technical webcasts, but they did something odd this time, even for them – the Hosted webcast is public, but the Technical webcast is unlisted. Sure, it can be found if you have the URL, but why hide the good broadcast and keep the rather hard-to-watch hosted one easy to find?
I know I seem to bring this up every SpaceX launch, but it really gets old having to hunt down the good broadcast… but enough of that, here is the launch. Enjoy.