{"id":11727,"date":"2021-04-23T20:15:38","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T12:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-launches-astronauts-on-recycled-capsule-and-flight-proven-rocket\/"},"modified":"2021-04-23T20:15:38","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T12:15:38","slug":"spacex-launches-astronauts-on-recycled-capsule-and-flight-proven-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-launches-astronauts-on-recycled-capsule-and-flight-proven-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX launches astronauts on recycled capsule and \u2018flight-proven\u2019 rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Falcon 9 rocket takes off from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with four astronauts heading for the International Space Station. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket ferried a multinational crew into orbit at the break of dawn Friday with a spectacular sky-lighting launch from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, dazzling early risers along the East Coast with a flawless start to a planned six-month expedition on the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

The mission kicked off SpaceX\u2019s third crew flight to the space station, following a two-man test flight that launched last May and the first four-person mission that took off in Nov. 15. The four astronauts on Friday\u2019s launch will replace the crew that has been in space since November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis marks many important milestones, but it really is important for getting a regular cadence of crew to the station and back,\u201d said Steve Jurczyk, NASA\u2019s acting administrator. \u201cAnd it\u2019s going to really accelerate the research and development we\u2019re able to do on the station.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a seemingly picture-perfect countdown, the Falcon 9\u2019s on-board computer commanded its nine Merlin booster engines to ignite a few seconds before the rocket climbed off pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:49:02 a.m. EDT (0949:02 GMT).<\/p>\n

Burning several tons of propellant every second, the nine engines pushed the 215-foot-tall (65-meter) Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft off the launch pad with 1.7 million pounds of ground-shaking thrust.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 soared above widely scattered clouds, exceeded the speed of sound about a minute after liftoff, and rocketed into the stratosphere on a northeasterly heading from Florida\u2019s Space Coast. Two-and-a-half minutes into the mission, the Falcon 9 shut down its main engines and the first stage separated at an altitude of more than 260,000 feet, or 80 kilometers.<\/p>\n

Moments later, a single Merlin engine on the rocket\u2019s second stage ignited to send the four astronauts into orbit inside SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California, radioed periodic status updates to the four astronauts riding the Dragon spacecraft.<\/p>\n

An on-target burn by the second stage engine placed the Crew Dragon capsule in a nearly perfect orbit on course to reach the International Space Station for a docking at 5:10 a.m. EDT (0910 GMT) Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9\u2019s first stage came back to Earth and nailed a landing on SpaceX\u2019s drone ship holding position a few hundred miles downrange in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

The Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, meanwhile, separated from its Falcon 9 launcher about 12 minutes into the mission. Soon after, the Dragon capsule opened the nose cone that covered the ship\u2019s docking port for launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very excited to be back in space,\u201d said Shane Kimbrough, a NASA astronaut and commander of the Crew-2 mission, the second operational Crew Dragon flight.<\/p>\n