Liftoff! SpaceX Dragon Launches to the International Space Station

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars upward after its liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 5, 2023, on the company’s 28th Commercial Resupply Services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 11:47 a.m. EDT.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars upward after its liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 5, 2023, on the company’s 28th Commercial Resupply Services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 11:47 a.m. EDT.
Photo credit: NASA

Liftoff! At 11:47 a.m. EDT, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket roared off the launch pad at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida, starting the Dragon spacecraft’s approximately 19-hour trip to the International Space Station for NASA.

The SpaceX Dragon will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the Expedition 69 crew currently aboard the orbiting laboratory. Coming up in the next minute, the Falcon 9 will pass through Max Q – the moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket. At about two minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff, the main engine in the rocket’s first stage will shut off, followed by the first and second stages separating.