After cancelling lift-off with just 13 seconds to go on Saturday, SpaceX have successfully launched a rocket from Nasa’s moon pad.
The unmanned Falcon rocket is taking more than 2,000kg of supplies to the International Space Station and should arrive by Wednesday.
GO ROCKET GO #SpaceX #CRS10 pic.twitter.com/qNv3Iqwpel
— Miriam Kramer (@mirikramer) February 19, 2017
Last-minute issues caused the launch delay but the stars seemed to have aligned for the second attempt as speedy repairs were successful and the clouds even parted before take-off.Elon Musk’s aerospace firm even managed to land its leftover booster back at Cape Canaveral eight minutes after lift-off, something that’s only been done twice before. It’s safe to say he was pretty chuffed, tweeting the phrase: “Baby came back.”
Several minutes after the booster returned, the Dragon cargo ship was in orbit.It’s good news for the company, whose track record was marred by a rocket explosion during a pre-launch test last summer.The pad it launched from, known as 39A, hadn’t been used since 2011 and is on a 20-year lease from Nasa.If all goes well, SpaceX could be launching manned flights from 39A as soon as next year.
