LIVE NOW: NASA SpaceX Resupply Mission Launch

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]standing to the side of Falcon 9. You got a view of it there on the right hand side of your screen. And again, we have LZ40 over there on the left. Those two clamp arms up at the base of stage 2 are used to stabilize Falcon 9 during our propellant loading, which again began at about tus 35 minutes. The TE, which again is that large trust piece on the right hand side, is used both to roll Falcon 9 out to the pad and then raise it into the vertical launch position. It stays connected through the final seconds of the launch countdown.

[00:00:32]We will see those stabilizing clamp arms open up around the second stage.

[00:00:36]>> Chill has started >> at about tminus 4 minutes and 17 seconds. But there we did just get that announcement from mission control that engine chill has begun.

[00:00:46]>> Fun fact, the super chilled liquid oxygen on board Falcon 9 is at about 300 degrees below zero.

[00:01:07]Everything is still looking good for an ontime liftoff just under 6 and a half minutes from now. And we are still tracking 95% >> one RP1 load is complete.

[00:01:16]>> 95% favorable launch uh weather conditions at our T0 time. And we did just hear the confirmation that RP1 or rocket propellant one has been uh fully loaded onto stage one.

[00:01:36]Right now we are just about 2 minutes away from those clamp arms opening up around the second stage. As I mentioned before, those clamps help to stabilize the rocket during fueling. They also prevent movement in high winds. But once they're open, the rocket will be fully free at the top. Then we will also hear that key call out from mission control that our tanks are pressurizing for strong back retract, which is one of the things that helps Falcon 9 stand freely on the path.

[00:02:16]When we do see those plant arms start to open up, that'll take about 15 seconds for them to fully move away from Falcon 9. And then our Strong back will also retract slightly. At our liftoff time though, the Strong back will kick back a full 45° away from Falcon 9, enabling it to clear the launch pad.

[00:02:37]>> Falcon 9 tanks are pressing for the start of Stroback retract. There's that confirmation that Falcon 9 is getting ready for strong back retraction.

[00:02:53]A really great view of those hypersonic grid fins at the base of the interstage on your screen right now. Those are the primary mechanics.

[00:03:00]>> Dragon is in terminal count and is on internal power. There's confirmation that uh our system is on internal power >> started >> and we are heading into the final 5 minutes before liftoff.

[00:03:20]There you can see those clamp arms starting to open up and we should see some movement from the TE shortly.

[00:03:29]About a little more than three minutes to go for liftoff. Wishing to report the range is also green to support today's launch.

[00:04:04]Now, if for some reason we do not launch today, we do have a backup opportunity.

[00:04:07]That'll be tomorrow, Saturday, May 16th, at 5:43 p.m. Eastern time. But right now, all systems tracking well as we continue to monitor the final progress of fueling and getting ready for liftoff.

[00:04:29]So, we're going to continue listening in over the countdown nets. And the next thing we're expecting is stage one lock.

[00:04:35]>> Stage one lock is complete.

[00:04:37]>> Right on schedule. The second stage should now finish up about a minute after that.

[00:04:42]Our tanks are also pressurized using helium. That helium is chilled too so that it stays compatible with the cryogenic plumbing on board Falcon 9.

[00:04:50]During flight, that helium pressurization helps force propellant into the engines as the tanks empty. In these last few minutes, Falcon 9 is performing final health checks on its primary communications, avionics, and propulsion systems in preparation for flight.

[00:05:05]We may hear some more call outs that the engines are sufficiently chilled as we get a little closer to liftoff. And again, we are standing by for another fuel loading completion call in about 20 seconds.

[00:05:21]And around this time, the second stage thrust vector control actuators are being tested and checked out. And this is when SpaceX moves the nozzle ever so slightly to make sure that guidance hardware is acceptable for flight. In about 2 minutes at the time of launch, the International Space Station will be flying some miles off >> off the southern coast of Australia as we hear that stage two locks load is complete and Falcon 9 is now fully fueled.

[00:05:51]The first and second stages are now fully >> loaded with pounds of rocket grade.

[00:05:59]>> Rocket grade kerosene is now Dragon moving into auto idle.

[00:06:03]>> Coming up on a minute and a half >> left in the countdown. Now auto idle puts the rocket in a state where the flight computers can understand before it takes off.

[00:06:20]Now we are standing by for the tminus 60 second call out that Falcon 9 has entered startup mode. At that point the rocket's onboard flight computers will have taken over. From there on out the countdown will be fully autonomous.

[00:06:36]>> Falcon 9 has entered startup.

[00:06:39]>> Dragon is in countdown. Confirmation of startup mode for Falcon 9 and countdown for Dragon. Our last milestone here is that our launch director calls go for liftoff.

[00:06:50]>> LD, go for launch.

[00:06:52]>> There we have it. Just inside of T-minus 2 seconds, the nine Merlin 1D engines on the Falcon 9 first stage will ignite.

[00:06:59]Once they're at full power, Falcon 9 will lift off the pad and begin its climb to orbit.

[00:07:05]>> 30 seconds.

[00:07:06]>> Listen in for these final 30 seconds.

[00:07:19]T-minus 15 seconds.

[00:07:24]T-minus 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ignition and lifttoff. Go Falcon. Go Dragon and go CRS34.

[00:07:45]NASA SpaceX 34 commercial resupply services mission carrying over 6,500 lb of cargo and supplies is on its way to the International Space Station.

[00:08:08]Everything is looking good on board Falcon 9 and with our Dragon spacecraft.

[00:08:12]We heard those call outs for mission control that the rocket is pitching down range and that all nine >> nominal >> engines continue to perform well. We're just about to throttle down the engines to prepare for max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure during ascent. Max Q happens when the combination of speed is supersonic >> and air pressure put the greatest stress on the vehicle and That call out for mission control. We know that Falcon 9 is moving faster than the speed of sound.

[00:08:44]>> Max Q.

[00:08:45]>> There's that call out for Max Q. Now coming up, there are going to be several major events that happen back to back really quickly. Main engine cut off, stage separation, first stage flip, second engine start, and boost back burn start. Main engine cut off will likely be called out as mo. That's when all nine engines on the first stage shut down. That'll be followed by stage >> chill.

[00:09:07]>> There's that call out for MVAC chill on board the second stage.

[00:09:11]Of course, before we can start the second stage, we do have to separate those two stages. The first and second stage will be separated and pushed apart from one one another when we hear the call up for stage set. Then the first stage will flip around using small thrusters so it can head back to Earth.

[00:09:28]A few seconds later, we'll light that second stage MVAC engine and continue pushing Dragon to orbit.

[00:09:34]After all of that is done, the first stage will perform its boost back burn to steer itself back toward the landing site.

[00:09:52]>> Main engine.

[00:09:59]>> Stage separation confirmed.

[00:10:03]Back start.

[00:10:14]>> Great views on your screen there as you heard and hopefully saw all of those key events taking place. Main engine cutoff, stage separation, stage one flip which is happening on the left hand side of your screen, second engine start on the right hand side of your screen, and the beginning of our boost back burn. Now, coming up shortly, we should hear the call out for completion of the boost back burn on the first stage.

[00:10:36]This burn helps to steer the booster back toward the landing site and is the first of three burns the first stage performs on its return to LZ40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

[00:10:47]We are expecting that call out in just about 5 seconds.

[00:11:02]Stage one boost back shut down.

[00:11:08]>> And once again, thank you for joining us as you continue to follow along with NASA SpaceX 34th commercial resupply services mission. Now 3 minutes and a little more than a half into today's flight. takes about 9 and a half minutes to get into orbit and all set as Dragon on the right hand side with that Marlin MVAC engine on the right. Continue its chase to the orbiting laboratory. And there you can see that stage one making its return back to Earth on the left hand side.

[00:11:35]We had an ontime liftoff at 6:05 p.m.

[00:11:37]Eastern time from Space Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Now, in order to make the left side, stage one, make its return back to Earth, a couple things have to happen.

[00:11:48]Two more burns to execute. The entry burn, where three of the Merlin engines will reignite, and this helps slow the stage down as it re-enters the upper part of Earth's atmosphere. And following the entry burn, the booster will go through its landing burn. And this is a single engine burn that brings the vehicle speed down rapidly in order to land back on Earth. And we should be hearing those call outs for that entry burn in just a couple of moments from now.

[00:12:14]>> That's right, Joseph. We are standing by for our entry burn, which should we're expecting to begin at about t plus 6 minutes and 10 seconds. Now, during that entry burn, Falcon 9 is decelerating by firing its Merlin engines, but the vehicle is still moving really fast.

[00:12:30]This causes it to fly through Merlin's exhaust gas gases, which are also known as the rocket's plume. deposits a layer of soot on the vehicle surface, which is why our flight proven rockets look the way that they do. The soot comes from the carbon based fuel that Falcon 9 uses and which with each flight that soot builds up a little more on the outside of the vehicle.

[00:12:51]We also heard that call out from mission control just a few moments ago that both vehicles are on nominal trajectories.

[00:12:57]You can follow the trajectories along at home in the bottom corners of your screen. We have stage one on the left and stage two on the right.

[00:13:09]Now five and a half minutes into flight.

[00:13:11]Still a little a few more moments to go as we continue to follow along the path of NASA's SpaceX CRS 34th commercial resupply services mission. And there you can see a great view of stage one on the lefth hand side. The grid the grid fins that Ronnie brought up earlier in the broadcast just ahead of launch. Falcon 9 is equipped with four hypersonic grid fins which are positioned by the top or first stage and are used >> and used for steering as it returns to Earth. As you heard the start of that entry burn for the first stage and those grid bins are a critical part of Falcon 9's reusability system.

[00:13:48]>> So entry burn just completed as it shut down. And now we'll look for that landing burn as it continues to make its return back to Earth and it will begin its descent to landing zone 40 today.

[00:13:59]And on the right hand side, continuing to track the path of the second stage in which the Dragon cargo spacecraft on top of that second stage making its way into orbit. Now 6 and a half minutes into today's flight.

[00:14:12]Now again, moments away from entry burn, we should see the stage one light back up as it will rapidly decelerate in preparation at landing zone 4.

[00:14:23]>> FTS safe.

[00:14:28]>> And Milestones continuing to check off for the stage one as it makes its return back to Earth.

[00:14:36]And we'll keep an ear out for that entry burn. Start up an entry burning.

[00:14:40]should get some great visuals off the >> So, landing burn now underway and that's the single engine that slows down stage one rapidly ahead of touching down back on Earth.

[00:15:00]>> Stage one landing confirmed.

[00:15:06]And great visualizations there as stage one has successfully returned back to landing zone 40.

[00:15:13]>> That's now 7 and a half minutes into today's flight. We still have about a minute to go, a little less than that for stage two. Hopefully heard my colleagues behind me. That is another successful landing of our Falcon 9 rocket. This was the sixth launch and landing for this first stage.

[00:15:28]Now coming up in just over 30 seconds, we should hear a call out for second engine cutoff one or SECO1, which is when the MVAC engine on board the second stage shuts down. That'll conclude the roughly 6 minute burn by this engine needed to get Dragon into the proper orbit to align with the International Space Station.

[00:15:46]>> Stage two FTE.

[00:15:49]Stage two terminal guidance.

[00:15:57]>> Just about 10 seconds until we should hear that SEC one call.

[00:16:09]>> Invac shutdown.

[00:16:12]>> And then there's confirmation of MVAC shutdown on board our second stage. Now we are just standing by for confirmation of a good orbital in >> stage two nominal orbit insertion >> and we have confirmation there of a good orbit from mission control. The stage two vehicle is now in coasting with Dragon attached and we're about a minute away from spacecraft separation and we're seeing a great view of that second stage. That Merlin vacuum engine has shut down and will continue to await that separation for Dragon to continue its journey on towards the International Space Station. Again, carrying 6,500 lb of critical cargo, science, and supplies to the orbiting laboratory.

[00:17:04]And a great visual there on your left hand.

[00:17:08]We're getting some great views of in space as Dragon is slowly drifting away from our second stage, which you've got that full view of the MVAC engine on your screen right now. And we have confirmed spacecraft separation separation confirmed >> right on schedule. So to recap today's mission so far, we did have an ontime liftoff at 6:05 p.m. Eastern time.

[00:17:28]Everything proceeded nominally up to that point. At two and a half minutes into flight, we saw a separation of the first and second stages right on schedule, which was followed by the successful landing of Falcon 9's first stage at landing zone 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

[00:17:44]At about t plus 8 minutes and 30 seconds, we had a successful second engine cutoff or seco 1, which was followed by confirmation of good orbital insertion.

[00:17:54]Dragon then successfully separated from the second stage and we are now standing by for nose cone deployment. I'll be handing back over to Joseph at JSSE to talk us through that milestone. Joseph, back to you.

[00:18:09]>> Thank you very much, Ronnie. Great to work with you and the team again as we see another successful launch and the cargo resupply services mission, the 34th for NASA SpaceX heading towards the orbiting lab. And as you mentioned, we are monitoring the nose cone deploy on the tip of the Dragon spacecraft that'll hinge open. We just received note that the first set of hooks are opening up.

[00:18:29]We'll wait for the second set and then followed by the nose cone deploy.

[00:18:36]So once the nose cone is deployed, it will expose the four Ford bulkhead Draco thrusters that will execute a series of maneuvers necessary to raise Dragon's orbit and meet up with the International Space Station. And this will be immediately after Dragon separates from Falcon 9, which we just saw. And it begins with what we call now the activation and rendevous phase of the mission. During this phase, Dragon is configured for onorbit operations and begins after separation of Dragon from Falcon 9 and will end with the completion of the final coalic burn, one of five key burns that the spacecraft will perform in order to catch up to the orbiting laboratory. Now our initial orbit today for the spacecraft is 190 km by 210 km and with those numbers that represents the perigee and apogee of the orbit or the lowest and highest point over the earth. As we are now 11 minutes and 45 seconds into today's mission.

[00:19:32]Now with that initial orbit, it means that it isn't a perfect circle around the Earth, but more like a very slight ellipse. And now over the next several hours in fact looking at the phasing for Dragon to catch up to the International Space Station about 37 hours one day 12 hours and 54 minutes give or take to track down the orbiting lab with again a docking scheduled for early Sunday morning and that will be around 7:00 a.m.

[00:19:54]Eastern time at 6:00 a.m. Central time.

[00:19:56]Now I alluded to there are five major burns that the Dragon spacecraft or the firing of the Draco thrusters will perform to catch up to the International Space Station. And those burns are the phase burn, boost burn, close burn, transfer, and coaltic burn, which we mentioned earlier, that final. And that's all for Dragon to not only climb up to, but catch up to the International Space Station. And there you can see the pathway of where stage one and stage two took to get Dragon into its initial orbit today. Now approaching 13 minutes into today's mission.

[00:20:30]Now, if we can, let's transfer over to the mission control rooms as they are behind today's launch festivities.

[00:20:38]And you will see the teams both in Hawthorne and in Johnson Space Center.

[00:20:48]The team's here with me in Houston monitoring the orbiting laboratory, but keeping a close eye on today's flight.

[00:20:52]And of course again the team in Hawthorne in SPA uh SpaceX operating today's launch. And there you can see on the right hand side of your screen there a look inside the International Space Station flight control room as they continue to monitor the progress of the Dragon spacecraft. Now again we're continuing to monitor nose cone deploy.

[00:21:11]The first set of hooks have opened. Now looking and keeping an eye on the second set and we'll see the nose cone start to hopefully go in motion here shortly. And now you can see the SpaceX teams on the left hand side approaching 14 minutes into today's mission.

[00:21:28]And then once nose cone is confirmed, we'll be joined on console here by Bill Speetch, International Space Station operations and integrations manager to go over today's missions, its importance to the orbiting laboratory, and what certainly has been a busy time for the International Space Station.

[00:21:45]Now again, docking of the Dragon spacecraft is scheduled for 7 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, May 17th, 6 a.m. Central time.

[00:21:54]And we'll have all the coverage right here on NASA plus and all the NASA channels beginning at 5:30 a.m. Eastern for 30 a.m. Central.

[00:22:08]We'll continue to monitor Dragon again, awaiting nose cone movement as the hooks have all opened up. Again, that nose cone located at the tip of the Dragon spacecraft. And now the nose cone is in movement and we will see its first movements here shortly.

[00:22:32]Again, we thank you for following.

[00:22:36]And now on screen, you can start to see daylight creeping in as that is inside of the Dragon spacecraft looking at the nose cone. It is opening up to expose that docking adapter, which will come into play again on Sunday morning with NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway and issa astronaut Sophie Adnau on tap to monitor docking to the International Space Station in those early morning hours.

[00:23:02]And a great visualization again of the nose cone opening approaching about the halfway point in terms of being fully opened and exposed to the vacuum of space.

[00:23:16]Currently in their offduty period right now and resting as the Expedition 74 crew, but they will snap into action once the Dragon spacecraft arrives to unpack the 6,500 lb of cargo and supplies. NASA astronauts Jess Kamir, Jack Hathway, and Chris Williams. We mentioned ISAsa astronauts Sophie Adnau, and Ros Cosmos cosminaut Sergey Kerkov, the current station commander, Sergey Mikav, and Andre Feday.

[00:23:41]Temporary loss of visuals there on the nose cone, but it does continue to open up as we'll monitor as we just pass the halfway point.

[00:23:51]Teams on the left hand side in Hawthorne, California, and SpaceX. and the team on the right here with me in the International Space Station flight control room in Houston, Texas, continuing to follow along.

[00:24:05]We also mentioned there will be five key burns for the Dragon spacecraft to make as it begins its chase to the International Space Station. The first one will be the phase burn, which happens not too long after liftoff. In fact, that'll be a little bit later on this evening. And then the other four key burns with necessary adjustments will occur throughout Saturday and into Sunday.

[00:24:31]Nose cone now about 70% open as the teams here continuing to mong Just over 17 minutes into today's mission after an ontime liftoff at 6:05 p.m. Eastern time from Space Launch Complex 40 is NASA's SpaceX 34th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station loaded up with 6,500 lb of food, supplies, cargo, and hardware to the orbiting laboratory.

[00:25:16]and what has been a busy stretch of time and it's always a busy stretch of time for the International Space Station and we'll touch upon that with Bill Speet here in just a moment operations and integrations manager as the nose cone now nearly open will stand by for confirmation.

[00:25:56]And as we await that confirmation, great views from Dragon. Now over 18 minutes into today's flight, a successful liftoff. Stage one, the sixth flight of the stage one booster made its way safely back to landing zone 40. Stage two carried Dragon the rest of the way as again we continue to stand by for confirmation of we continue to stand by.

[00:26:29]And we just received confirmation that they were doing the Draco checkouts after nose cone and deploy.

[00:26:48]And here inside of mission control, we just got a great call out from our visiting vehicles officer that the nose cone has been deployed. The Draco Draco thruster checkouts have been completed and Dragon is now on its way to the International Space Station. So now that it's deployed and ready for its phasing burns to the orbiting laboratory with a successful orbital insertion, I'm now joined by Bill Speetch, the International Space Station operations and integrations manager. Bill, thank you so much for joining us today.

[00:27:15]>> Yeah, it's great to be here again.

[00:27:17]Bill, this commercial resupply services mission that just launched for you. What stands out about this mission and what it brings to the space station? We talked about the the cargo and some of the science that's on board, but it packs a lot in that spacecraft to bring to the orbiting laboratory. Yeah, it really does. Sears 34 is another great example of how the space station keeps driving science and technology forward.

[00:27:38]This mission is delivering new research, hardware, supplies, all the things that keep our crew healthy and the laboratory running. Every one of these cargo flights helps us test systems, study human health, and mature technologies that we'll need as we go deeper into space. It's a reminder that the ISS is still one of the most productive platforms we have for discovery.

[00:27:58]And I've alluded to it a couple of times, but it's always a busy stretch of time for the International Space Station program. How would you describe the pace of operations that's been going on right now for the laboratory?

[00:28:08]>> Yeah, the pace on ISS is always incredibly dynamic. We're supporting continuous crew operations, science experiments that are going on all the time, visiting vehicles coming and going, uh, and various upgrades, all while preparing for the next phase of human space flight. The team is balancing day-to-day station operations with long-term planning, and it really shows the strength of our international partnership. Even as we celebrate milestones like CRS 34, the work really never stops on orbit and certainly does, not a chance to catch up with you during the pre-launch teleconference and more to come. And for those following along, be sure to visit nasa.gov for that information. Well, Bill, Artemis 2, not too far back uh in terms of mission success and a major milestone for not only all programs here at NASA, but just for the agency overall. How is the International Space Station shaping Aremis and future missions beyond low Earth orbit?

[00:28:58]Yeah, the International Space Station is really the foundation for everything that we do uh from Aremis and everything going forward. Everything we learned about long duration missions, life support, crew health, autonomous operations, international teamwork, all of it comes directly from more than 25 years of continuous human presence on the station. Artemis 2 demonstrated deep space systems, but the confidence to send crews that far comes from the experience we've built in lower Earth orbit. The station is where we test, refine, and prove the capabilities that will take us back to the moon. In fact, there were a number of hardware items that flew on Artemis that were tested on the ISS.

[00:29:39]And again, the International Space Station, that foundational test bed to continue humanity's exploration further and further out into our solar system.

[00:29:46]Bill Speetch, it's great to see you.

[00:29:47]Thank you so much for joining us here today.

[00:29:49]>> Absolutely. Always a pleasure.

[00:29:51]>> That was Bill Speetch, the International Space Station operations integrations manager. Thank you again so much for your time and joining the broadcast.

[00:29:58]Let's back check back in with the team over in SpaceX. Ronnie, >> thanks, Joseph. As you mentioned, Dragon has now begun its journey toward the International Space Station, executing a series of phasing burns to gradually close the distance with docking again targeting Sunday, May 17th at 7 a.m.

[00:30:16]Eastern, 6 a.m. Central. We'd like to thank NASA for entrusting us with today's mission. SpaceX is honored to be part of NASA's commercial resupply services initiative. Congratulations again to the teams on another successful launch. To stay up to date with all of our upcoming missions here at SpaceX, please be sure to check out spacex.com/launches for schedules and follow SpaceX on XX.

[00:30:38]That will do it for me here in Hawthorne today. Thank you so much for tuning in.

[00:30:42]Back to you, Joseph.

[00:30:47]Thank you so much, Ronnie. As always, it's been a pleasure to team up with you and share this launch again with you and the teams over at SpaceX. And we hope you'll join us on NASA Plus, Amazon Prime, and more for our coverage of the final approach and docking of this Dragon spacecraft. again, beginning at 5:30 a.m. Eastern on Sunday, May 17th, not too long from now, for a docking expected near 700 a.m. Eastern time.

[00:31:07]Visit nasa.gov for the latest updates on our coverage and expected docking times as we follow the operations throughout the next couple of days. With Dragon safely on its way to the International Space Station, that'll wrap up tonight's coverage of