A robotic arm on the ISS will grab the payload as it inches closer to the Station. Those panels on the payload are the deployed solar panels, used to fire its boosters. (Diagram from the SpaceX webcast).
Of the things that came to my attention on Monday – for real, on TV and on-line – I was thrilled most by the webcast of the SpaceX launch. The mission is dubbed Commercial Resupply Services mission number 12 (CRS-12), and the launch went without a hitch.
Reportedly, there are 30 small cups of real ice-cream for the ISS astronauts* in the 6,400 pound payload of cargo, that also has live mice and science experiments. The first stage booster rocket made a perfect landing back to the launch pad, a nice bonus.
(The moment of lift-off, streamed live on YouTube). From YouTube: On August 14, 2017, SpaceX successfully launched its twelfth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-12) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Liftoff occurred at 12:31 p.m. EDT, or 16:31 UTC and was followed approximately two and a half minutes later by separation of the first and second stages. The first stage of Falcon 9 then successfully landed back at SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
