The picture shows the Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center complex 39A.
Because of the lightning strike at Cape Canaveral, SpaceX decided to postpone the delivery of cargo to the ISS. Lightning did not damage the equipment, but struck within a radius of 16 km from the launch site. This happened 25 minutes before the scheduled start.
According to the rules, you have half an hour to prepare for a safe launch. And the weather refused this necessity. Now the next opportunity will be presented on Saturday and will be broadcast live on the NASA website.
Weather forecasts show a 60% chance of favorable conditions.
Refurbished capsule
For the Dragon ship, this will be the first launch after delivery in September 2014, when it landed in the ocean. Most of the details remained, but SpaceX conducted several updates (for example, replaced the heat shield). Reusable use of rockets is the last step in the long term of SpaceX, thanks to which flights into space will become not only more mobile, but will also bring benefits to the environment and the budget. The bottom line is to set up a safe landing system for the first stage for reuse.
This will eliminate the need to dump parts into the ocean, and not spend money on creating new ones. 10 minutes after launch, SpaceX will try to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral.
In Dragon about 2700 kg of scientific instruments and equipment were loaded. Among the necessary experiments, live mice are present (studying the effects of osteoporosis) and fruit flies (the effect of microgravity on the work of the heart).
It will be the 100th launch from the site 39A, from where the Apollo missions also started in the 1960-1970s.
