SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches supplies to ISS

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Nearly three tons of supplies and experiments are slated to blast off to the International Space Station Monday afternoon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, according to NASA.

The rocket, carrying a SpaceX Dragon capsule filled with supplies, is scheduled to launch around 4:30 p.m. from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex reached capacity about an hour before the scheduled liftoff.

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Among the 5,800 pounds of research, crew supplies and hardware to be launched are experiments to test how pharmaceuticals are metabolized in micro-gravity and to test new methods of delivering nutrients to plants.

“About 10 minutes after launch, Dragon will reach its preliminary orbit, at which point it will deploys its solar arrays and begins a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings to reach the International Space Station,” NASA officials said.

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The Dragon capsule is slated to dock at the space station on April 4.

This is SpaceX's seventh launch in 2018, which is set to be a busy year for both the company and NASA as they work toward a return to manned space flight to the International Space Station.

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"It's an exciting time to be in commercial crew. It's an exciting time to be in Florida. For the launch today, we have a small NASA and SpaceX team laying out procedures for how we'd do it for a crewed flight," said Steve Stitch, NASA's commercial crew deputy program manager.

Both SpaceX and Boeing are working toward and unmanned flight,  and later manned test flights for NASA by the end of 2018

"Elon Musk and Boeing are both aggressively competing with one another. That helps to move timelines forward. I know we would all really love to see that happen," said Dale Ketchum with Space Florida.

Cox Media Group