22221View
13m 30sLenght
183Rating

SpaceX has successfully launched it's 27th Falcon 9 rocket, the 6th flight of its Full Thrust variety. It carried the 10th Dragon spacecraft bound for the International Space Station full of 2,257 kilograms (4,976 pounds) of cargo including the important 'IDA-2' or International Docking Adapter 2 in the external truck. Liftoff took place at 04:44 UTC, July 18th 2016 from Space Launch Complex 40 of Cape Canaveral. The IDA-2 weighs 467 kilograms (1,030 pounds) and will be installed at the forward port of Node 2 allowing future commercial crew vehicles including the Dragon 2.0 to dock to the ISS and bring crew by an American vehicle for the first time since 2011 when the Space Shuttle was retired. This mission also saw the successful and 2nd ever landing attempt on land of the first stage. The stage completed several burns post separation of the second stage before slowing down and landing at Landing Zone 1 of Cape Canaveral. This is now the 5th first stage rocket that has been successfully landed and means officially the hangar at launch pad 39A is now full.