UPDATE: Elon Musk-owned SpaceX was unable to launch their Dragon shuttle for its second round to the ISS in the past couple months because of unfavorable weather conditions. It had earlier been reported that the weather was just 70 percent favorable for taking off from Kennedy Space Center. As mentioned in the tweet below, the launch had to be deferred due to lightning in the sky.
Standing down due to lightning. Backup launch opportunity on Saturday, June 3 at 5:07 p.m. EDT or 21:07 UTC.
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 1, 2017
The private space company has now secured a new launch window on Saturday — June 3, as mentioned in the tweet above. The launch timings will be 5:07 pm EDT / 9:07 pm UTC /2:30 am IST (June 4).
PREVIOUSLY: SpaceX has taken it upon itself to keep the International Space Station well stocked. The company has received billions of dollars worth of contracts from NASA and along the same, is now attempting to reuse one of its Dragon capsules.
The launch is special because the spacecraft in question, the dragon, has already been used to resupply the ISS during CRS-4, back in 2014. The same spacecraft has been refurbished and will again carry as much as 6,000 pounds of supplies and research materials. These materials will be used to support experiments and SpaceX will attempt to get them to the ISS during Thursday’s CRS-11 launch, the window for which opens at 5:55 PM EDT.
In case things don’t work out on the first go, SpaceX will cease trying and will re-attempt the launch again on Saturday, June 3 at 5:07 PM EDT. The launch is taking place from the LC-39A pad, which is situated at the facility at Kennedy Space Center that SpaceX earlier leased from NASA.
The company will attempt to recover the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket again. The Dragon capsule meanwhile, will stay attached for around a month before it drops off from the pacific ocean.
