SpaceX Launches to the International Space Station
December 18, 2012
Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida is illuminated by a Falcon 9 rocket as it lifts off at 8:35 p.m. EDT carrying a Dragon capsule to orbit. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, built both the rocket and capsule for NASA's first Commercial Resupply Services, or CRS-1, mission to the International Space Station.
SpaceX CRS-1 is an important step toward making America’s microgravity research program self-sufficient by providing a way to deliver and return significant amounts of cargo, including science experiments, to and from the orbiting laboratory. NASA has contracted for 12 commercial resupply flights from SpaceX and eight from the Orbital Sciences Corp.
Image Credit: NASA
Topics:
Technology Internet, SpaceX, Space technology, Spaceflight, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, Space station, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40, Falcon, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dragon, Falcon 9, Human spaceflight, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
