Reused SpaceX Dragon Supply Ship Arrives Space Station, Cygnus Departs, Falcon 9 Launch & Landing: Photos/Videos

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The first ever reused Dragon supply ship successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) two days after a thunderous liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday, June 3. The first stage booster made a magnificent return to the Cape and erect ground landing some 8 minutes after liftoff.

The commercial Dragon cargo freighter carrying nearly 3 tons of science and supplies for the multinational crew on the CRS-11 resupply mission reached the space stations vicinity Monday morning, June 5, after a two day orbital chase and a flawless series of carefully choreographed thruster firings.

The stunning Falcon 9 launch and landing events were captured by journalists and tourists gathered from around the globe to witness history in the making with their own eyeballs.

Check out the expanding gallery of eyepopping photos and videos from several space journalist colleagues and friends and myself – for views you won’t see elsewhere.

Click back as the gallery grows !

By 8:30 a.m. Monday morning ground controllers had maneuvered Dragon to within 250 meters of the station and the imaginary keep out sphere around the orbiting complex.

Engineers carefully assessed the health of the Dragon and its systems to insure its ability to slowly and safely move in closer for capture by the crew.

When Dragon reached a distance of 11 meters, it was grappled by Expedition 52 astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer using the 57.7 foot long (17.6 meter long) Canadian-built robotic arm Monday morning at 9:52 a.m. EDT.

“Capture complete,” radioed Whitson as Dragon was captured at its grapple pin by the grappling snares at the terminus of the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

Dragon’s capture took place as the ISS was orbiting 250 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean as it was nearing the East coast of Argentina.

“Complete complete. Go for capture configuration,” replied Houston Mission control.

Dragon CRS-11 marks SpaceX’s eleventh contracted commercial resupply services (CRS) mission to the International Space Station for NASA since 2012.

The gumdrop shaped 20-foot high, 12-foot-diameter Dragon is carrying almost 5,970 pounds of science experiments and research instruments, crew supplies, food water, clothing, hardware, gear and spare parts to the million pound orbiting laboratory complex.

The CRS-11 cargo ship will support over 62 of the 250 active research investigations and experiments being conducted by Expedition 52 and 53 crew members.

Watch for Ken’s onsite CRS-11 mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.

Ken Kremer

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