A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket beat the rain and launched at 5:08 a.m. Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center to bring 6,500 pounds of cargo that includes a variety of medical experiments to the International Space Station.
There was some doubt about the launch as weather reports gave only a 30% chance of favorable conditions, according to a Monday forecast from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron. But, the spacecraft lifted off almost exactly as scheduled.
The mission capped off a busy week for SpaceX, which saw successful Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg Space Force Station in California for its Starlink program on Saturday, and from Canaveral with a Turkish communication satellite on Sunday, a record turnaround with just over 15 hours between launches.
