SpaceX blasts off to space station in historic first

May 23, 2012 02:51 am | Updated November 17, 2021 02:57 am IST - CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida)

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft atop rocket Falcon 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Tuesday.

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft atop rocket Falcon 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Tuesday.

Opening a new era in private space flight, the U.S. company SpaceX on Tuesday became the first commercial outfit to launch its own craft toward the International Space Station.

The test flight of the Dragon space capsule, which launched atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket at 3.44 a.m. (0744 GMT), aims to show that industry can restore U.S. access to the ISS after NASA retired its space shuttle fleet last year.

The mission is set to include a fly-by and berthing with the station in the next three days, before the capsule returns to Earth at the end of this month.

Shortly after liftoff, the cargo-carrying spacecraft entered orbit and live video images showed mission control staff at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California jumping from their seats, hugging and clapping.

SpaceX chief executive officer and Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk said watching the rocket rise from the launch pad was an “extremely intense moment”.

“Every bit of adrenaline in my body released at that point,” he told reporters after the flawless launch, which followed an attempt on Saturday that was scrubbed at the last second when computers detected high pressure in the central engine of the Falcon 9.

SpaceX engineers discovered the root cause was a faulty check valve and repaired it the same day.

No humans are travelling aboard the Dragon, but six astronauts are already at the $100-billion space lab to help the capsule latch on, to unload supplies and then restock the capsule with cargo to take back to Earth.

On May 24, the spacecraft's sensors and flight systems are to undergo a series of tests to see if it is ready to berth, including a complicated fly-under at a distance of about 2.5 km.

If NASA gives the green light, the Dragon will then approach the ISS on May 25 in an attempt to berth with the station.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.