Oolite Bulletins

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft is due to blastoff to the International Space Station today at 08:55 GMT/UTC (09:55 BST). It's a historic mission, never has a commercial company launched a spacecraft to the ISS before today.

Watch the coverage on Spaceflight Now, here.

Thanks! Watching now..

0858 GMT (4:58 a.m. EDT)
The launch team is safing the rocket and Dragon spacecraft after this morning's abort.
0856 GMT (4:56 a.m. EDT)
It's not clear what caused the abort just before liftoff, but this will mean Falcon 9 will not launch today. The rocket had a near-instantaneous launch window in which it could fly today.
0855 GMT (4:55 a.m. EDT)
ABORT. The ignition sequence started, but there was a countdown cutoff before launch.

Yeah.. talk about a bummer..

Next launch attempt could be made on Tuesday morning.

JazHaz wrote:

It's not clear what caused the abort just before liftoff, but this will mean Falcon 9 will not launch today.

From what I heard from the conversation going on, the onboard computer detected an overpressure condition in motor 5, and aborted the launch.

The Spaceflight Now website seems to be overloaded right now, I guess a lot of people are trying to watch the coverage.

I myself have been watching NASA TV in HD via a Chrome browser app. Here's a link to the app:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... kkinmbnipa

JazHaz wrote:

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft is due to blastoff to the International Space Station today at 08:55 GMT/UTC (09:55 BST). It's a historic mission, never has a commercial company launched a spacecraft to the ISS before today.

Actually, the first time a commercial company launched a spacecraft to the ISS was in 2008, when Arianespace launched the Jules Verne ATV. However, the ATV itself was developed and operated by the ESA. The Dragon will be the first commercially operated spacecraft to dock with the ISS. (Arianespace is also mostly owned, directly and indirectly, by governments, but it’s an independently operating commercial entity.)

Successfully launched today, and the Dragon module is now in orbit. Docking with the ISS is scheduled for 25th.

Dragon has been captured by the ISS's Canadarm robot arm.

Next step is to move the Dragon to dock it on the station's Harmony node.

I'm watching on NASA TV.

Dragon captured by ISS Canadarm by JazHaz, on Flickr

Good report including some video from Los Angeles Times

Dragon is on its way home. Deorbit burn completed sucessfully. Splashdown due in about 42 minutes from now.

Dragon's main parachutes have deployed.

Splashdown occurred at 10.42 CT.