SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will go from Cape Canaveral to low Earth orbit in 10 minutes Monday with a Dragon capsule heading for the International Space Station carrying more than 5,800 pounds of supplies and experiments.
Liftoff is set for 2030 GMT (4:30 p.m. EDT) Monday from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad.
It will be the 52nd flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, and SpaceX’s eighth launch of the year. Working under contract to NASA, Monday’s launch will be the 14th of least 26 SpaceX resupply missions to depart for the space station.
SpaceX does not intend to recover the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage on Monday’s mission. The booster is already a veteran of one launch in August 2017, when it propelled a previous SpaceX Dragon resupply mission toward the space station.
T-0:00:00: Liftoff
After the rocket’s nine Merlin engines pass an automated health check, hold-down clamps will release the Falcon 9 booster for liftoff from pad 40.
T+0:01:00: Mach 1
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Mach 1, the speed of sound.
T+0:01:08: Max Q
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
T+0:02:41: MECO
The Falcon 9’s nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.
T+0:02:45: Stage 1 Separation
The Falcon 9’s first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.
T+0:02:52: Second Stage Ignition
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for an approximately 6-minute burn to put the Dragon spacecraft into orbit.
T+0:09:03: SECO
The second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket shuts down after reaching a target orbit with a low point of approximately 124 miles (200 kilometers), a high point of approximately 223 miles (360 kilometers) and an inclination of 51.6 degrees. The second stage will reignite for a de-orbit burn soon after deploying the Dragon spacecraft, aiming for a destructive re-entry over the Southern Ocean south of Australia.
T+0:10:03: Dragon Separation
The Dragon spacecraft separates from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage.
T+0:11:00: Solar Arrays Deployed
The Dragon spacecraft’s two solar array wings extend one-at-a-time to a span of 54 feet (16.5 meters).
SpaceX fueled up a Falcon 9 rocket, ran through a mock countdown and fired the booster’s nine Merlin main engines Friday in a successful preflight static fire test officials hope will clear the way for liftoff Jan. 6 on a space station resupply mission.
Two panels of managers and scientists presented details of SpaceX’s 16th operational resupply flight to the International Space Station on the eve of its launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.
The first Falcon 9 flight of 2016 is ready for takeoff Sunday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and these photos show the rocket positioned on its launch mount overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
