Elon Musk’s SpaceX launches Crew Dragon on resupply mission to the ISS [live stream]

The SPACE X CRS 18 – also known as the Crew Dragon – will be launching from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida today at 00:00 South African Standard Time (SAST), according to Elon Musk.

The SpaceX spacecraft will be carried by the Falcon 9 rocket, which is the Falcon Heavy’s predecessor and can carry up to 53 000 kilograms of cargo during the course of its lifetime.

What will SpaceX’s Crew Dragon be taking to the ISS?

For this trip, the Crew Dragon will be carrying supplies, equipment and material that “will directly support multiple science and research investigation” at the microgravity laboratory, NASA confirmed in a statement.

After the launch, the Crew Dragon spacecraft will orbit the International Space Station (ISS) before offloading about 5 000 pounds – roughly about 2260 kilograms – of cargo for the Expedition 60 scientists on the ISS.

Live coverage will begin via the stream above at around 15 minutes prior to the target launch time, provided all goes to plan. The standard pre-launch weather assessment said there was a 30 percent chance of favorable weather

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft previously visited the ISS in April 2015 and again in December 2017. This will also be SpaceX’s 18th resupply mission to the ISS.

The Crew Dragon is equipped with the most advanced spacecraft parachute recovery system in the world. It is safe enough for human spaceflight. More than 25 successful tests have already been conducted.

Watch: Crew Dragon Parachute tests

Crew Dragon should arrive at the ISS on Friday, 26 July. Science conducted on the orbiting lab supports commercial research and development and advances NASA’s Artemis program.

SpaceX’s Mission to Mars

The Artemis program plans to return humans to the Moon and to send the first humans to Mars. Elon Musk had his sights set on Mars for quite some time. Space developed a bold plan for starting a colony on the Red Planet.

He hopes to have humans on Mars by 2024. Apart from developing Starships, SpaceX has been developing a test facility in Texas where it completed a 600-kilowatt solar array and two ground station antennas.

The research into that will also be useful for future Crew Dragon missions. From 2020 to 2022, SpaceX will work on the next stage of the Starship development; and by 2022, SpaceX plans to send unmanned ships to Mars.

Falcon 9 rocket: Stats for nerds

The two-stage-to-orbit rocket has a mass of 541 300 kilograms. It can carry up to 22 800 kilograms of cargo in low Earth orbit; or up to 8 300 kilograms in geostationary transfer orbit, SpaceX confirmed.

Furthermore, the Falcon 9’s first stage has nine Merlin engines with a burn time of 162 seconds. In addition, the second stage has only one engine which ignites after stage separation. It has a burn time of 397 seconds.

Also read – SpaceX and Elon Musk’s Starhopper almost ready for first untethered hop

Watch the live stream here:

The stream is currently live. NASA will be reporting about other missions and Apollo 11 anniversary events throughout the day. The Crew Dragon launch live stream should commence at 00:00 SAST.