SpaceX is counting down Friday for another attempt to launch a Cargo Dragon ship loaded with 6,500 pounds of science and supplies for the International Space Station after two delays earlier in the week due to bad weather.
Liftoff of the resupply mission, atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. EDT (2205 UTC). It will be SpaceX’s 34th mission for NASA, funded by the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage starting about an hour prior to launch.
A slow-moving weather front, bringing thick clouds and thunderstorms to central Florida, stymied launch attempts on Tuesday and Wednesday. The countdown on Wednesday reached T-28 seconds before the launch director called a hold due to the presence of lightning-triggering anvil clouds in the vicinity of the launch pad.
Launch was rescheduled for Friday so ground crews could reload ‘late load’ items with a short shelf life.
With high pressure building over central Florida, creating drier conditions, forecasters are calling for a 90-percent chance of acceptable weather for launch, with only a small risk of violating the cumulus cloud rule.
The Falcon 9 will depart Florida’s Space Coast on a northeasterly trajectory to target a rendezvous with the orbiting space station.
Less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will return for a touchdown at Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40) adjacent to the launch pad at SLC-40. This will be the fourth booster recovery at this site and the 108th on-shore landing across the four pads SpaceX has used since 2015.
SpaceX will launch the CRS-34 mission using Falcon 9 first stage booster B1096. This will be its sixth flight following the launches of NASA’s IMAP, GPS III-9, NROL-77, Kuiper Falcon 01, and Starlink Group 6-87.
This will also be the sixth flight for the Cargo Dragon spacecraft, serial number C209. It launched the CRS-22, -24, -27, -30, and -32 missions. This is the first time that a Cargo Dragon spacecraft will launch for a sixth time, but the second for the Dragon-2 program overall. The Crew Dragon Endeavour has already flown for a sixth time.
Cargo Dragon will separate from the Falcon 9 second stage about 9.5 minutes into the mission, kicking off a nearly 37-hour orbital chase to catch up with the space station. It’s set to dock with the orbiting outpost at about 6:59 a.m. EDT (1059 UTC) on Sunday, May 17.