SpaceX has launched a load of supplies to the International Space Station following a pair of power delays.
A Falcon rocket raced into the pre-dawn darkness from Cape Canaveral in Florida, carrying a Dragon capsule with 5,500lbs (2,500 kilograms) of goods.
The recycled Dragon – which is making its second space trip – is due to arrive at the orbiting lab on Monday.
The launch follows a series of delays (Nasa/AP)
The delivery is a few days late because of electrical power shortages that cropped up first at the space station, then at SpaceX’s rocket-landing platform in the Atlantic.
Both problems were quickly resolved with equipment replacements: a power-switching unit in orbit and a generator at sea.
Minutes after lift-off, SpaceX landed its brand new, first-stage booster on the ocean platform a mere 14 miles offshore, considerably closer than usual with the sonic booms easily heard at the launch site.
SpaceX could not resist the Star Wars Day connection – Saturday is May 4 – with the phrase “May the fourth be with you” being a pun on the movie series’ famous line: “May the force be with you.”
Dragon is on its way to the International Space Station! Capture by the @Space_Station crew set for early Monday morning pic.twitter.com/oGs4IrBW9h
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 4, 2019
“Dragon is now officially on the way to the space station,” the SpaceX launch commentator announced once the capsule reached orbit and its solar wings unfurled.
“Until next time, may the fourth be with you.”
The booster should have returned to Cape Canaveral, but SpaceX is still cleaning up from the accident on April 20 which destroyed an empty crew Dragon capsule.
Earlier this week, SpaceX vice president Hans Koenigsmann said the company still does not know what caused the empty capsule to burst apart in flames on a test stand.
The capsule’s SuperDraco launch-abort thrusters were just a half-second from firing when the blast occurred.
And we have LIFTOFF! 🚀@SpaceX’s #Dragon spacecraft launched at 2:48am ET on a mission to deliver more than 5,500 pounds of research, crew supplies and hardware to the @Space_Station. For updates, visit https://t.co/FRrjhINIvY. pic.twitter.com/GSNtBBEl9i
— NASA (@NASA) May 4, 2019
This first crew capsule had completed a successful test flight, minus a crew, to the space station in March.
SpaceX intended to re-fly the capsule on a launch-abort test in June, ahead of the first flight with astronauts on a new crew Dragon. The schedule is now up in the air, as SpaceX scrambles to identify and correct whatever went wrong.
SpaceX has been restocking the station since 2012.
LIVE ROCKET LAUNCH! Tune in to see us send more than 5,500 pounds of cargo to the @Space_Station aboard @SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. Watch the countdown to liftoff at 2:48am ET: https://t.co/w9kweKx0Tn
— NASA (@NASA) May 4, 2019
This latest cargo Dragon – the company’s 17th shipment – is carrying equipment and experiments for the six space station astronauts, including an instrument to monitor carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere.
The California-based company is also under contract with Nasa, along with Boeing, to transport astronauts to the space station.
It is unclear whether these commercial crew flights will begin this year, given the Dragon accident and Boeing’s own delays with its Starliner capsule.
Astronauts have not launched from Cape Canaveral since the last space shuttle mission in 2011, instead riding Russian rockets at a steep cost to Nasa.
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