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Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon rumbles off the pad. Photograph Credit score: Sean Costello / SpaceFlight Insider
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Within the very-early-morning hours of March 2, 2019, SpaceX launched the primary unpiloted check of its Crew Dragon spacecraft, setting the stage for a docking with the Worldwide Area Station some 27 hours later.
Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission happened at 2:49 a.m. EST (07:49 GMT). Rising into the black from historic Launch Advanced 39A, the flame from the 9 Merlin 1D engines lit up the sky because it climbed ever increased.
The primary stage completed its job and separated about 2.5 minutes later earlier than making ready to land on a drone ship downrange within the Atlantic Ocean. In the meantime, the second stage and Crew Dragon continued towards orbit, arriving simply over 9 minutes after leaving Florida. Lower than 30 seconds later, the primary stage landed on the “Of Course I Nonetheless Love You” drone ship.
ISS certain
With a profitable orbit insertion, Crew Dragon is slated rendezvous with the ISS within the early-morning hours of March three. After security evaluations, the spacecraft is predicted to maneuver in for a docking at about 6 a.m. EST (11:00 GMT).
Docking is predicted to be adopted by a hatch opening and welcoming ceremony by the Expedition 58 crew of the Worldwide Area Station, which incorporates Russian cosmonaut and station commander Oleg Kononenko, Canadian Area Company astronaut David Saint-Jacques and NASA astronaut Anne McClain.
After about 5 days docked, the crew is predicted to put some return gear inside earlier than closing the hatch. Following that, the car will likely be ready for undocking, which is predicted at about 2:30 a.m. EST (07:30 GMT) March eight. A splashdown within the Atlantic Ocean is predicted some six hours later.
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