SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket early Sunday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Michael Cain \/ Spaceflight Now \/ Coldlife Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSpaceX launched a Dragon cargo capsule from Florida on a thundering predawn ascent into orbit early Sunday aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, kicking off the company\u2019s 23rd commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n
The two-stage Falcon 9 launcher, standing 215 feet (65 meters) tall, roared to life and fired away from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center at 3:14:49 a.m. EDT (0714:49 GMT), an instantaneous launch opportunity set by the moment Earth\u2019s rotation brought the spaceport under the space station\u2019s orbital plane.<\/p>\n
A launch attempt Saturday morning was scrubbed due to stormy weather at the space center.<\/p>\n
Nine Merlin 1D main engines, each consuming kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants, powered the rocket northeast from Florida\u2019s Space Coast with 1.7 million pounds of thrust.<\/p>\n
After climbing into a moonlit sky, the Falcon 9\u2019s first stage shut down and separated, allowing the rocket\u2019s single engine second stage to finish the job of placing the Cargo Dragon capsule into orbit.<\/p>\n
The 15-story-tall first stage, meanwhile, reignited three of its engines near the edge of space to begin propulsive maneuvers to guide itself toward SpaceX\u2019s drone ship \u201cA Shortfall Of Gravitas\u201d positioned some 180 miles, or about 300 kilometers, northeast of Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n
The initial maneuver, called a \u201cboost back burn,\u201d slowed the stage\u2019s downrange velocity, then an entry burn a few minutes later made another adjustment to its trajectory back into the atmosphere. A final booster burn using the rocket\u2019s center engine slowed the vehicle for a touchdown on the deck of the drone ship.<\/p>\n