NASA’s venerable launch pad 39A blazes to life again
SpaceX booster does a U- turn back to Earth
Following trails blazed by Saturn V moon rockets and space shuttles, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Sunday from a storied Kennedy Space Center launch site on a mission to resupply the International Space Station.
The 210- foot rocket carrying a Dragon cargo craft disappeared into clouds after the morning liftoff from Pad 39A, where Apollo astronauts launched to the moon and shuttle astronauts last set sail nearly six years ago.
Minutes later, the rocket’s first stage did something the historic missions never envisioned: flipping around above the atmosphere and flying back to Cape Canaveral for a soft landing that unleashed sonic booms across the area.
“Baby came back,” CEO Elon Musk posted on Instagram.
The landing eight minutes after liftoff was SpaceX’s third of a booster at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, miles down the coast from the launch site. It was the first attempt in daylight, but clouds obscured the views for many spectators.
SpaceX is trying experimental booster touchdowns at sea and on land with the hope of making rockets reusable and could re- fly a used stage for the first time as soon as next month. Eight boosters have been recovered.
Two minutes after the landing, cameras showed the unmanned Dragon capsule carrying 5,500 pounds of cargo floating away in what SpaceX said was a perfect orbit.
The Dragon is expected to arrive at the station around 9 a. m. Wednesday. European astronaut Thomas Pesquet will use a 58- foot robotic arm to snare the craft and reel it into a docking port.
The launch was SpaceX’s second this year, following one from California in January that marked the Falcon 9’ s return to flight after a rocket exploded on a Cape launch pad during a test Sept. 1.
The first launch from pad 39A since the shuttle Atlantis lifted off in July 2011 was a psychological boost for the space center eager to show it had evolved into more than just a NASA spaceport. The space agency is preparing its own rocket to launch from pad 39B, possibly in late 2018.