Photos: Falcon 9 in the starting blocks for space station resupply run

December 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

EDITOR’S NOTE: Launch attempt scrubbed Dec. 4.

Ready for a resupply run to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was raised vertical at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Wednesday ahead of a planned liftoff with more than 5,700 pounds of science experiments and crew supplies.

The 213-foot-tall (65-meter) rocket and a Dragon supply ship is scheduled for liftoff from pad 40 at 12:51:58 p.m. EST (1751:58 GMT) Wednesday to begin a three-day trek to the space station.

The Falcon 9’s first stage booster, designed No. 59 in SpaceX’s inventory, is brand new. The Dragon capsule is a veteran of two previous trips to the space station in 2014 and 2017.

See our Mission Status Center for live coverage.

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket stands 213 feet (65 meters) tall. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now
Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now
Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now
Four titanium grid fins will help guide the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster toward landing on SpaceX’s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now
The Dragon cargo capsule flying on the SpaceX CRS-19 mission previously flew to the station on the CRS-4 an CRS-11 resupply flights in 2014 and 2017. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

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