SpaceX installed time-sensitive cargo into the pressurized cabin of a Dragon resupply capsule Sunday in the final hours before liftoff with nearly 2.5 tons of experiments and a critical docking system to welcome piloted commercial spaceships to the International Space Station.
Using a pristine, climate-controlled access port, SpaceX technicians added the “late load” cargo into the Dragon spacecraft while the Falcon 9 rocket sat horizontally at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad.
The ground crew then erected the 213-foot-tall (65-meter) Falcon 9 rocket vertical at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad just after 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) for final preflight checks and fueling.
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