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Historic SpaceX Launch From Kennedy Space Center
The rocket's nine first stage engines ignited at 5:49 a.m., then throttled up to a combined 1.7 million pounds of thrust,
April 23, 2021
Lighting up the pre-dawn sky, a Falcon 9 rocket with a previously-flown first stage roared to life and shot away up the East Coast early Friday, boosting a refurbished SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule into orbit carrying four astronauts on a day-long trip to the International Space Station.
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Running 24 hours late because of threatening off-shore weather, the rocket’s nine first stage engines ignited at 5:49 a.m., throttled up to a combined 1.7 million pounds of thrust, and smoothly pushed the slender booster away from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
Strapped in four abreast, commander Shane Kimbrough, co-pilot Megan McArthur, Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, all space veterans making their first flights aboard a SpaceX capsule, monitored the automated ascent on large touch-screen displays.
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