SpaceX Launches Supplies Falcon Rocket To Space Station After Power Delays

SpaceX launched a Falcon rocket into the pre-dawn skies over Florida on Saturday following a pair of unusual power delays.

The rocket carried a Dragon capsule with 5,500 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station.

“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, the Associated Press reported.

They couldn’t resist a reference to Star Wars Day as the craft streamed into the sky. “Until next time, May the Fourth be with you.”

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 liftoff, the first-stage booster landed on an ocean platform about 10 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral, considerably closer than usual with the sonic booms easily heard at the launch site.

“That looked really, really cool in the night sky,” said Hans Koenigsmann, a SpaceX vice president who left his launch control seat to run outside and watch.

SpaceX has been restocking the space station since 2012. This is its 17th shipment. It will deliver equipment and experiments for the six space station astronauts on Monday.

Source: Nypost