Wednesday, May 8, 2019

SpaceX Commercial Dragon Cargo Ship Streaks to Space Station: Gallery


Composite launch and landing streak of SpaceX Falcon 9 CRS-17 mission after liftoff from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 4, 2019 bound for the International Space Station (ISS) – as seen from the VAB roof at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, FL. 1st stage lands safely just off shore of Port Canaveral eight minutes later just to the right of pad 40.  Note overlapping streaks at center and boostback burn at left.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
Ken Kremer -- SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 7 May 2019

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL    SpaceX lit up the literally middle-of-the-night sky with a spectacular display of rocketry with a flawless liftoff of the commercial Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo ship on Saturday, May 4, carrying over 2.7 tons of research experiment and NASA hardware and supplies to the six person crew living aboard the International Space Station.

The Dragon CRS-17 resupply arrived safely two days later early Monday morning, May 6 loaded with approximately 5,500 pounds of NASA cargo and science investigations

The SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully blasted off at 2:48 a.m. EDT (0648 GMT) Friday, May 4 with the unpiloted Dragon CRS-17 cargo ship from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida bound for the ISS with almost 3 tons of science investigations and supplies and included research into Earth’s carbon cycle, numerous biomedical and physical sciences investigations and the formation of asteroids and comets. 

Enjoy our expanding collection of Space UpClose photos and videos of both the magnificent launch and landing.

Check back as the launch and landing gallery grows and this story expands. With so many overlapping space events its tough  to keep up! 

The SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon CRS-17 cargo vessel lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 4, 2019, on its way to the International Space Station. CRS-17 is the 17th SpaceX mission to the ISS carrying over 5,500 pounds of NASA cargo and science investigations – as seen from the VAB roof at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
The Falcon 9 CRS-17 launch marked a great comeback for SpaceX following the hugely disappointing and devastating static fire test malfunction that completely destroyed the Demo-1 Crew Dragon spacecraft on April 20 just before Easter Sunday – a big setback that will undoubtedly force a delay in finally launching astronauts aboard the Demo-2 Crew Dragon spacecraft.









CRS-17 is the 17th SpaceX resupply mission to the ISS.


Dramatic touchdown of SpaceX Falcon 9 1st stage booster on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ droneship some 8 minutes after liftoff May 4 at 2:48 a.m. EDT – as seen from the VAB roof at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com











Eight minutes later spectators witnessed the very exciting and first ever mission featuring a dramatic soft landing of the 1st stage booster on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ (OCISLY) droneship - occurring just a few miles offshore of the Florida Space Coast beaches - that was easily visible given the crystal clear night time skies under superbly serene weather conditions. 













Read our photo filled articles about the OCISLY return Saturday evening and subsequent booster processing to successfully retract the landing legs for the first time.


The six person Expedition 59 crew comprises astronauts David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and Anne McClain of NASA; cosmonauts Oleg Konenenko and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos; and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch

Watch my launch video here:


Video Caption: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying commercial cargo Dragon on NASA CRS-17 resupply mission to International Space Station (ISS) roars to life May 4, 2019, 2:48 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida - as seen in this video camera stationed at pad. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com







The next SpaceX Falcon 9 launch is tentatively targeted for May 15 at 10:30 p.m. EDT. 



The SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon CRS-17 cargo vessel lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 4, 2019, on its way to the International Space Station. CRS-17 is the 17th SpaceX mission to the ISS carrying over 5,500 pounds of NASA cargo and science investigations.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

stage separation





Watch my commentary at CBS Orlando WKMG about the SpaceX Cargo and Crew Dragon mission in lead video:

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/space-news/spacex-go-for-overnight-launch-of-iss-resupply-mission-from-cape-canaveral


Dr Ken Kremer/Space UpClose interviewed about SpaceX mission on CBS Orlando TV News station WKMG by reporter James Sparvero
Watch my commentary at Fox 35 TV News Orlando about the SpaceX Crew Dragon testing failure here and the implications for delay in future Crew Dragon test flights here:



Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.



Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events













Up Close view of SpaceX Cargo Dragon and mobile cleanroom as technicians work towards addition of CRS-17 mission late load science items as the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rests horizontal on Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The CRS-17 cargo ship is now slated for liftoff May 3, 2019 at 3:11 a.m. EDT.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com







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