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CRS-6 (Falcon 9) 14 April 2015 |
Space Launch Complex 40 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station |
| A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches a Dragon spacecraft on the sixth Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission for NASA to the International Space Station. Liftoff occurred at 4:10 p.m. on 14 April 2015 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. | |
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| The Dragon spacecraft is carrying more than 4,300 pounds of supplies and payloads, including twenty ill-fated mice on a one-way journey to the ISS for use in medical experiments. The rocket is venting liquid oxygen used as an oxidizer for its kerosene fuel. | |
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| The strongback used to put the rocket vertically on the pad is retracted in preparation for launch. Note the umbilicals still attached to the rocket. These provide fuel and power to the rocket. | |
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| LIFTOFF! Note the umbilicals snapping away as the Falcon 9 lifts off. | |
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| The rectangular box, one of two, on the Dragon spacecraft at the top of the Falcon 9 protects the Dragon's solar panels during the flight through the atmosphere. | |
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| Note the long, triangular shapes to the left and right of the SpaceX logo at the bottom of the first stage booster. These are the first stage booster's landing legs retracted for launch. | |
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| The second attempt to make a powered landing of the first stage booster onto the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship stationed a few hundred miles out in the Atlantic ended in failure when the stage was destroyed in a hard landing. | |
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| The first stage booster burns out sending Dragon safely on its way to a linkup with the ISS approximately two days after liftoff. | |
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| Pad 40 after the launch. | |
| View images of the 13 April 2015 CRS-6 scrub. | |
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