Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with SpaceX’s ninth operational Dragon resupply flight to the International Space Station.
01:10
The SpaceX launch team is go for fueling of the Falcon 9 rocket with super-chilled liquid oxygen and RP-1 propellants.
01:07
Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's vice president of flight reliability, reports the company's management team is go for propellant loading.
01:06
Coming up on several major milestones in the countdown, beginning with a poll of the launch team at T-minus 38 minutes and the start of propellant loading at T-minus 35 minutes.
00:52
The International Space Station will be soaring 254 miles over the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Newfoundland at the time of tonight's launch.
00:51 T-minus 55 minutes
Tonight's launch is timed for exactly 12:45:29 a.m. EDT (0445:29 GMT), the exact moment necessary for the Dragon spacecraft to reach the International Space Station.
00:39 NASA TV coverage underway
00:26
T-minus 1 hour, 20 minutes. The U.S. Air Force Eastern Range has finished hold-fire checks with the Falcon 9 rocket.
The Falcon 9 countdown is significantly changed with the upgraded version of the rocket.
While radio checks and flight termination system tests are complete, fueling of the rocket with its propellant mixture of RP-1 rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen will not begin until about a half-hour before the launch, instead of at about T-minus 3 hours on earlier Falcon 9s.
The upgraded Falcon 9 consumes a chilled propellant mix that allows engineers to load additional fuel into the rocket. The cryogenic liquid oxygen is chilled closer to its freezing point, from minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit to minus 340 degrees, while the RP-1 fuel is cooled from a more standard room temperature of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit to 20 degrees, according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
The change essentially permits the volume of the Falcon 9 fuel tanks, which are also slightly enlarged on this launch, to hold more mass of propellant, giving the rocket more performance.
The Merlin engines on the first and second stages will also produce more thrust. At liftoff, the nine-engine first stage will generate 1.5 million pounds of thrust, up from 1.3 million force-pounds on the Falcon 9's previous version.
The second stage engine is also modified with a bigger nozzle, and the stage separation system includes a new pusher device to help guide the first stage as it is jettisoned, ensuring no recontact.
Taken together, the modifications allow the Falcon 9 carry heavier satellites into orbit and still attempt booster landings on the coast or on an ocean-going barge. Today's launch will target a landing back at Cape Canaveral, the second time such a return-to-launch-site maneuver has been attempted.
00:19
All launch commit weather criteria are currently observed "go" at Cape Canaveral.
00:15
Tonight's landing attempt at Cape Canaveral will come less than 10 minutes after liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket. It will be the second time SpaceX has attempted a booster landing onshore.
The first descent over Florida's Space Coast in December ended with a smooth touchdown at Landing Zone 1, a former Atlas missile facility a few miles south of the Falcon 9's Complex 40 launch pad.
SpaceX is three-for-eight in first stage landing attempts on a barge offshore. The experimental landings are part of SpaceX's rocket recovery and reuse plan.
22:43
SpaceX installed time-sensitive cargo into the pressurized cabin of a Dragon resupply capsule Sunday in the final hours before liftoff with nearly 2.5 tons of experiments and a critical docking system to welcome piloted commercial spaceships to the International Space Station.
Using a pristine, climate-controlled access port, SpaceX technicians added the "late load" cargo into the Dragon spacecraft while the Falcon 9 rocket sat horizontally at Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad.
The ground crew then erected the 213-foot-tall (65-meter) Falcon 9 rocket vertical at Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad just after 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) for final preflight checks and fueling.
The Dragon spacecraft perched on top of the slender, two-stage rocket is crammed with nearly 5,000 pounds of supplies. The spaceship will take a two-day trip to the space station, and the research lab's robotic arm will grapple the approaching Dragon capsule around 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) Wednesday.
The equipment loaded inside the Dragon's internal compartment includes experiments aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of DNA sequencing in orbit, studying the heart's response to microgravity, and investigating how to better protect computers from radiation in space.
18:55 Weather still 90% go
Forecasters continue to predict a 90 percent chance of acceptable weather for tonight's instantaneous launch window at 12:45:29 a.m. EDT (0445:29 GMT).
The only concerns are with the cumulus cloud and flight through precipitation rules. Mostly clear skies are in the official launch forecast issued by the U.S. Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron.
Winds should be out of the southeast at 10 to 15 mph, and the temperature at launch time is predicted to be about 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
Air Force and NASA safety authorities plan to evacuate a large section of the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 area, including both launch pads, the Vehicle Assembly Building and the press site, due to risk that onshore winds could blow the Dragon capsule back toward land in the event of an abort.
SpaceX added an abort function to cargo missions after a Falcon 9 launch failure last year destroyed a Dragon supply ship. In the event of a similar mishap now, the Dragon capsule could attempt to separate from the Falcon 9 and deploy its parachutes in order to save its cargo.
The winds forecast tonight could send the descending capsule over KSC property, prompting the evacuation. Officials are concerned the capsule's tanks of toxic in-space maneuvering propellant -- hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide -- could rupture on impact, even under parachutes.
Safety officials routinely evacuate some facilities for launch operations, but this is the first time such a large section of KSC including the VAB and press site have been cleared for a launch.
18:55 Weather still 90% go
Forecasters continue to predict a 90 percent chance of acceptable weather for tonight's instantaneous launch window at 12:45:29 a.m. EDT (0445:29 GMT).
The only concerns are with the cumulus cloud and flight through precipitation rules. Mostly clear skies are in the official launch forecast issued by the U.S. Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron.
Winds should be out of the southeast at 10 to 15 mph, and the temperature at launch time is predicted to be about 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
Air Force and NASA safety authorities plan to evacuate a large section of the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 area, including both launch pads, the Vehicle Assembly Building and the press site, due to risk that onshore winds could blow the Dragon capsule back toward land in the event of an abort.
SpaceX added an abort function to cargo missions after a Falcon 9 launch failure last year destroyed a Dragon supply ship. In the event of a similar mishap now, the Dragon capsule could attempt to separate from the Falcon 9 and deploy its parachutes in order to save its cargo.
The winds forecast tonight could send the descending capsule over KSC property, prompting the evacuation. Officials are concerned the capsule's tanks of toxic in-space maneuvering propellant -- hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide -- could rupture on impact, even under parachutes.
Safety officials routinely evacuate some facilities for launch operations, but this is the first time such a large section of KSC including the VAB and press site have been cleared for a launch.
12:17 Launch timeline
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will go from Cape Canaveral to low Earth orbit in 10 minutes Monday with a Dragon capsule heading for the International Space Station carrying nearly 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments.
Liftoff is set for 0445:29 GMT (12:45:29 p.m. EDT) Monday from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad.
It will be the 27th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, and the seventh launch of the booster’s latest configuration with higher-thrust engines and densified super-cold propellants. The launch will be the ninth of least 26 resupply missions under contract to SpaceX to depart for the space station.
See the complete timeline.
11:49 Weather forecast favorable
Forecasters predict mostly clear skies and light winds at the surface and aloft for Monday’s launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, favorable conditions for the booster’s liftoff and landing at Cape Canaveral.
The official launch weather forecast released Friday by the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron calls for a 90 percent of acceptable conditions for liftoff at 12:45:29 a.m. EDT (0445:29 GMT) Monday.
A weather axis draped over Central Florida will lift north over the weekend, setting up generally good weather Monday.
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