Ignition, and Liftoff! Dragon’s Journey Begins

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, with the company’s Dragon spacecraft atop, lifts off from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida on March 14, 2023, beginning the company’s 27th resupply services mission to the International Space Station
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, with the company’s Dragon spacecraft atop, lifts off from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida on March 14, 2023, beginning the company’s 27th resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff occurred at 8:30 p.m. EDT. Photo credit: NASA

Liftoff! At 8:30 p.m. EDT, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rumbled off the pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, starting Dragon’s two-day journey to the International Space Station.

Dragon will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for Expedition 68 and 69 crews 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.

Watch a replay of the launch below.