[SpaceX] Launch of Falcon 9 & Dragon On Mission to International Space Station

LAUNCH REPLAYS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCQvEa...

The third launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket occured today, May 22nd 2012 at 07:44 UTC from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The rocket carried the SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft into orbit on it's second mission, COTS 2+. This launch occurred after a scrubbed attempt on May 19th due to a high pressure reading from engine 5, after a visual inspection a faulty check valve was spotted to have remained open, after being replaced the rocket was cleared for flight.

COTS 2+ will have the Dragon fly under the International Space Station, test systems, abort scenarios and free drift ability of the spacecraft before if all goes well, berthing to the International Space Station's Harmony Module making history. Dragon would be come the first ever commercial vehicle to dock with the Station.

The Dragon is carrying 520 kg of cargo including crew clothing, food and various equipment for experiments. It will also become the first cargo vehicle at the Station able to return cargo, It will return 660 kg of cargo including various hardware that has failed or needs returned for examination on Earth as well as some experiment items.

• Category

  Science & Technology

[xed360x]

I wasn't making a negative statement about commercialisation.

It may seem stupid but a spacecraft laced with company logos such as Nike, McDonalds and Ford would not be a bad thing if it helped fund space exportations.

[helgiedogg]

Nope, its a private company founded by the same guy who founded (or co-founded) PayPal, Tesla, and now SpaceX. The private sector is now charged with mastering the reliability, reusability, and lowering the price of these kinds of cargo missions. This is the beginning of a paradigm shift in space transport.

[orogenicman]

I have watched several videos of the launch, including the live feed, but I really liked this presentation, particularly the night-time feed of the second stage burn. But what struck me the most about this entire flight is how young and ethusiastic the flight control center personnel are. And that really gives me a lot of encouragement that Space X has the right paradigm in place to make this a successful endeavour. Congratulations, Space X.

[Teddy Ossom Johannes]

wow congrats to space X team for a work well done.

[todacarbon]

Now if we could privatize rail...

[zlgreene]

...who cares?

[ThatAdelaideGuy]

No

[TheMysteryofRichy]

Was this flight manned?

[Žarko Jović]

When you look this video you can see a buch of beautiful young people full of knoweledge and you can admire them for what they do / have done.

And when you look at YT comment you can see people full of sh*t! They was transfered here from J. Bieber videos and "Whoaaa, Space video. I am smart now!"

Go and do something good!

[BeamMeUpSir]

Im sorry friend I agree every race & group supports the other HOWEVER not EVERY SINGLE PERSON OF THAT GROUP/RACE SHARES IN THAT SUPPORT. I am an ex-American living through out europe for 15 or so years. HERE, there is NO BLACK OR WHITE WE DONT CARE. I DONT CARE. I AM NOT ARGUING WITH YOU AND I DONT WANNA FIGHT WITH YOU. Im NOT saying your a degenerate NOT AT ALL, but I have noticed the difference so have others. I dont want to argue anymore. Honestly. Take care.

[AntiMatter3000]

Stop lying, Africans would never despise people of the same skin tone, because they know the racism we deal with from non-blacks.

You just made that up, because I know many people who are fresh off the boat.

They might not like what African Americans do, but they'll definitely support them as they're black.