SpX CRS-8
Falcon 9 Full Thrust
SpaceX
Weather Forecast During Launch
According to weather officials, there’s a 90% chance of favorable weather conditions at the time of the launch.
Mission
SpX CRS-8
- Type: Resupply
- Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
- Launch Cost: $50,000,000
SpaceX launched the Dragon spacecraft on their eighth operational cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station. Among the cargo was the Bigelow Aerospace’s BEAM module, which was attached to the station and will stay so for 2 years. BEAM is an expandable habitat module that will undergo tests to determine its worthiness during the stay. The flight was conducted under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
Location
Rocket
Landing
Core B1021
Booster B1021 last launched 03/30/2017 and has seen 2 successful launches and landings. Retired; on permanent display outside DISH Network Corporation headquarters in Littleton, Colorado.
Of Course I Still Love You – OCISLY
The second ASDS barge, Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) services launches in the Pacific Ocean and was the site of the first landing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage during CRS-8, the launch of a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.
Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship – ASDS
An autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) is an ocean-going vessel derived from a deck barge, outfitted with station-keeping engines and a large landing platform. Construction of such ships was commissioned by aerospace company SpaceX to allow for recovery of rocket first-stages at sea for high-velocity missions which do not carry enough fuel to return to the launch site after lofting spacecraft onto an orbital trajectory.
Agency
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.