SpaceX Falcon 9 Dragon May 15 launch

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station at 6:05 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 15, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, NASA said. The flight was the company’s 34th commercial resupply mission to the station for NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services program. (nasa.gov) NASA said Dragon was loaded with nearly 6,500 pounds of cargo for the station’s Expedition 74 crew. The launch followed weather-related delays earlier in the week before the vehicle finally left Space Launch Complex 40 on Friday evening. ### Why did this launch slip from earlier in the week? Wednesday, May 13, was the original primary launch date listed by SpaceX, with a backup opportunity on Friday, May 15, at 6:05 p.m. (nasa.gov) ET. SpaceX said the mission was set to fly from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Spaceflight Now reported that poor weather scrubbed attempts earlier in the week, including a Wednesday countdown that reached T-28 seconds before a hold for anvil-cloud concerns near the pad. The outlet said the mission was then moved to Friday, allowing teams to reload late-load cargo with short shelf lives. (nasa.gov) ### What exactly is Dragon taking to the station? NASA said the cargo includes crew supplies and several research payloads. Among them are a project testing how well Earth-based simulators reproduce microgravity, a wood-based bone scaffold that could aid research into osteoporosis and other fragile-bone conditions, and hardware to study how red blood cells and the spleen change in space. (spacex.com) The agency said Dragon is also carrying an instrument to study charged particles around Earth that can affect power grids and satellites, an investigation tied to how planets form, and an instrument designed to measure sunlight reflected by Earth and the Moon with high accuracy. (spaceflightnow.com) NASA described those payloads as part of the station’s broader research work in biology, physical science, Earth science and space science. ### Which hardware flew this mission? SpaceX said the Dragon spacecraft on CRS-34 is making its sixth flight after earlier station missions including CRS-22, CRS-24, CRS-27, CRS-30 and CRS-32. The company also said the Falcon 9 first-stage booster assigned to the mission was flying for the sixth time. (nasa.gov) Spaceflight Now identified that booster as B1096 and reported that it returned to Landing Zone 40 less than eight minutes after liftoff. The outlet said the booster had previously launched missions including IMAP, GPS III-9, NROL-77, Kuiper Falcon 01 and a Starlink flight. (nasa.gov) ### What happens between launch and arrival? SpaceX said Dragon follows a sequence of orbit-raising burns after separating from Falcon 9’s second stage, then establishes communications with the station and begins an autonomous approach along the docking axis. The company’s mission profile lists docking and pressurization before hatch opening and crew ingress. (spacex.com) NASA said the spacecraft is scheduled to dock autonomously to the forward port of the Harmony module at about 7 a.m. EDT on Sunday, May 17. The agency said live rendezvous and docking coverage is set to begin at 5:30 a.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime and NASA’s YouTube channel. (spaceflightnow.com) ### How long will Dragon stay at the ISS? NASA said the spacecraft is expected to remain at the station until mid-June. The agency said Dragon will then depart with time-sensitive research and cargo and splash down off the coast of California. NASA’s May 15 release tied the mission to the station’s role in supporting long-duration human spaceflight and work connected to the Artemis program and future Mars missions. (spacex.com) The next concrete milestone, though, is the May 17 docking, followed by Dragon’s departure in mid-June with return cargo for Earth. (nasa.gov)