UPDATE 2: The launch has been postponed until at least December 15 while SpaceX ensures successful status across all preflight checks.
UPDATE: This launch has been moved and is now targeting the backup window of Wednesday, December 13 at 8:24 AM PST (11:24 AM EST). The live stream will be available 15 minutes prior to that time above.
SpaceX is launching a space station resupply mission later this morning, with an instantaneous launch window opening at 8:46 AM PST (11:46 AM EST) from its LC-40 launch site at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force base.
The mission is a historic first for SpaceX – it’s the first time that the private space company will launch a refurbished, previously launched Dragon spacecraft using a Falcon 9 first stage booster that has also already been flown before. In other words, it’ll be the closest SpaceX has come yet to its vision of totally reusable space launch operations.
The Falcon 9 booster being used today few during a previously ISS resupply mission, CRS-11 earlier this year in June, and the Dragon was flown in 2015 during another commercial resupply effort. The cargo today is around 4,800 pounds of supplies and scientific experimentation support material for research being conducted on the ISS.
Dragon will stay at the ISS for around a month docked for unloading and reloading with return cargo from the ISS, before returning to Earth, and SpaceX will also try to recover the Falcon 9 first stage once again with a landing at its LZ-1 facility at Cape Canaveral.
There’s a back-up window set for 8:24 AM PST (11:24 AM EST) tomorrow, should the launch today need to be postponed. The live stream above should begin around 15 minutes prior to the scheduled launch window, or at around 11:30 AM PST.