SpaceX launches, lands Falcon rocket at Cape Canaveral; Dragon headed to ISS

If sleigh bells are ringing in space, can International Space Station astronauts hear them?

A SpaceX Dragon capsule believed to be bearing Christmas gifts among its 4,800 pounds of cargo is dashing to the station after a 10:36 a.m. Friday blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a Falcon 9 rocket — the Cape's final launch of 2017.

The spacecraft packed with food, spare parts and science experiments, plus care packages for the station crew, is expected to arrive by 6 a.m. Sunday at the laboratory complex orbiting 250 miles above Earth.

Kirk Shireman, NASA's ISS program manager, declined to play Scrooge and spoil any holiday surprises now in orbit.

“I cannot confirm nor deny the presence of Christmas presents on board the Dragon,” he said before the launch.

[Talks underway about potential rocket landing site at KSC]

[Blue Origin begins moving into New Glenn rocket factory at KSC]

SpaceX hailed the mission as an important milestone in its long-term effort to reduce the cost of spaceflight by reusing rockets and spacecraft.

"This was just a fantastic way to end the year for SpaceX East Coast launches," said Jessica Jensen, director of Dragon mission management for the company, during a post-launch news conference at Kennedy Space Center. "Really happy we launched today."

Both the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon had flown missions before: the booster helped launch ISS supplies in June of this year, while the Dragon previously visited the ISS in 2015.

There were no humans on board the Dragon, but its passengers did include 40 “mouse-tronauts” flying as part of a drug company experiment.

Another innovative payload flown by Made In Space will attempt to make a higher-quality fiber optic cable that could create a pioneering new market for goods manufactured in space for use on the ground. And Gluccowizard, an implantable blood glucose monitor that could change day-to-day diabetes management, will have its accuracy studied by astronauts.

Even Budweiser sponsored some of the ISS-bound research – the brewer aims to study the germination of barley, one of its main ingredients, in a wider company campaign to "be the first beer on Mars."

SpaceX’s 13th of 20 missions planned under a NASA resupply contract was the first to lift off from Launch Complex 40 since mid-2016. The pad was severely damaged when a Falcon 9 blew up during a fueling test on Sept. 1, 2016.

SpaceX resumed launching from Kennedy Space Center’s nearby pad 39A early this year, and used the accident as an opportunity to upgrade Complex 40 for modern Falcon operations.

"Our teams had to work super hard to make sure that we were able to launch today," Jensen said Friday, also noting that SpaceX's launch site director, John Muratore, confirmed everything on the pad "looked great" after launch. "All the additional work they put into this pad kept it strong, which means we'll be able to have much faster turnarounds in the future."

Overall, Friday’s launch was SpaceX’s 17th of the year, more than double its previous best total from last year, with one more mission scheduled from California on Dec. 22.

And SpaceX also notched its 20th landing of a Falcon rocket booster Friday morning, less than eight minutes after nine Merlin engines ignited with 1.7 million pounds of thrust.  

[Budweiser experiment catches ride on Falcon 9]

[Launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from KSC delayed to 2018]

The touchdown on legs at Landing Zone 1, miles down the coast from the launch pad, was that booster’s second in less than six months.

SpaceX’s upcoming launch for Iridium communications will be the fifth to re-fly a previously flown — or what SpaceX calls “flight proven” — first stage.

The company early next year plans to begin flying an upgraded Falcon 9, known as Block 5, that it says will be capable of more than two flights.

Early Sunday, NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei, two of three members of the station’s current Expedition 54 crew, will attempt to snare the Dragon with a 58-foot robotic arm before it is reeled into a docking port for a monthlong stay.

The berthing will occur hours after a Russian Soyuz spacecraft launches from Kazakhstan with three more crew members including NASA’s Scott Tingle. The crew is due to arrive Dec. 19.

After several delays for additional checks of the rocket and ground systems, the mission labeled CRS-13 or SpaceX-13 lifted off on its only launch opportunity before Christmas, because of the Soyuz flight and a 10-day period when the station is in constant sunlight and must change its position to prevent overheating.

SpaceX’s next major milestone in Florida will be the rollout of its new heavy-lift rocket, the Falcon Heavy, to KSC’s historic pad 39A.

The company hopes to test-fire the rocket’s 27 main engines before the end of the year and launch a demonstration mission next month of what will become the world’s new most-powerful rocket, producing more than 5 million pounds of thrust.

The Eastern Range this year hosted 19 launches by SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Orbital ATK — a busy year, but well short of the roughly 30 missions projected at the start of the year. 

As many as 35 missions are projected for next year, potentially including the first launches of astronauts from U.S. soil since 2011.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SpaceTeamGo.