On Thursday, the SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable rocket launched the Dragon spacecraft and 4 astronauts toward the International Space Station (ISS) under the Axiom AX-3 mission.
The launch took place on January 18 at 4:49 p.m. ET from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Liftoff of Ax-3! pic.twitter.com/PRy1LJmf3o
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 18, 2024
After the first stage separation, the Falcon 9 booster rocket landed back on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Then the second stage positioned Dragon in the right direction.
Falcon 9’s first stage booster has landed at Landing Zone 1 pic.twitter.com/9FUwT4YZHp
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 18, 2024
In the following scenario, the Dragon spacecraft will lead the journey to the space station and dock on January 20 at around 4:19 a.m. ET. A live webcast of the docking will happen online at the NASA website and SpaceX’s X account.
SpaceX AX-3 Mission
This launch wraps up the sixth Falcon 9 rocket mission of this year and the 12th overall human flight for the Dragon spacecraft.