Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 with CRS-13 slips again
Photo Credit: Michael Howard / SpaceFlight Insider
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the CRS-13 Dragon spacecraft has slipped again, with NASA stating that the new launch time is now Dec. 12, with the “instantaneous” launch window opening at 11:46 a.m. EST (16:46 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida.
The mission is part of the $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract that the NewSpace company has entered into with NASA. An estimated 4,800 lbs (2,177 kg) worth of cargo to the International Space Station is prepared to be sent aloft when CRS-13 takes flight.
If everything goes as it is presently planned, the “flight proven” first stage, upon sending Dragon on the first leg of its journey, will carry out a landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1.
NASA issued the following statement about this latest delay:
NASA and our commercial cargo provider SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Dec. 12 at 11:46 a.m. EST for their 13th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. This new launch date takes into account pad readiness, requirements for science payloads, space station crew availability, and orbital mechanics. Carrying about 4,800 pounds of cargo including critical science and research, the Dragon spacecraft will spend a month attached to the space station.
The launch, the first to take place from Canaveral’s SLC-40 since the $185 million Amos-6 satellite was lost when another Falcon 9 rocket exploded while sitting on the launch pad during a test, had been scheduled from Dec. 4 to Dec. 8 and now the 12th.
Jason Rhian
Jason Rhian spent several years honing his skills with internships at NASA, the National Space Society and other organizations. He has provided content for outlets such as: Aviation Week & Space Technology, Space.com, The Mars Society and Universe Today.
I get the feeling that NASA’S good at tying their own shoe laces together, barely, & everything that has gone right has done so by dumb luck! Maybe Murphy was asleep or not paying attention when they snuck one by him! P.S. By their track record ..all totaled, for those who believe the “grays” are somehow involved in getting humans to the next level…. really? After all the yrs. NASA acts like babes lost in the woods. Personally, I’d be giving myself so many forehead slaps my brains would shift to my butt. Either that, or it be…. I’ll call you, DON’T call me (preferably) never again or second I would move the Dimmwits aside & show them how it’s correctly done. What’s the saying they pinned of president Gerald Ford….he’s so dense (or clumsy, his seemingly constant falling) that he couldn’t chew gum & walk @ the same time? Ahhh, the 1950’s early early ’60’s all over again! Gad….
Trying to understand the context of the comment above
Me too.
Context? Dan appears to be drunk.
If CRS13 has to slip 24 hrs. from the Dec. 12th, they should think of Apollo13. Or would Elon Musk take a seat in row 12A ?
Dan is saying that everything NASA has achieved has been by pure luck, and that this slight delay is an instance of their luck running out. He also claims that he could do better.