Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral on SpaceX’s seventh operational resupply mission to the International Space Station. Exact times for re-entry and landing of the Falcon 9’s first stage have not been released by SpaceX.
Liftoff is set for 10:21:11 a.m. EDT (1421:11 GMT) Sunday.
Spare parts warehoused in the the United States and Russia will help Boeing finish assembly of a third space station docking port to receive arriving astronauts aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsules, replacing a unit lost in a Falcon 9 launch failure last year.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, standing 208 feet tall, is mounted on a Cape Canaveral launch pad for liftoff with a fresh package of supplies and research experiments for the International Space Station.
Going with a philosophy that favors incremental testing of an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 booster, SpaceX officials said Friday that eleven mini-satellites for Orbcomm’s data relay business will fly on the company’s first mission since a launch failure in June.