
On the 29th of June 2018, at 09:42 UTC the last Block 4 type Falcon 9 rocket launched a cargo mission to the International space station. Launching from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, the Falcon 9 was carrying CRS-15, a resupply for the International Space Station (ISS). This is the 15th mission of up to 20 CRS missions that have been contracted with NASA to resupply the ISS. Initially planned for April 2018, it was eventually pushed to the 29th of June. Previous resupply missions have been conducted by SpaceX and Orbital ATK.

B1045 (the first stage booster) was the seventh and final “Block 4” Falcon 9 v1.2 first stage manufactured by SpaceX. For this reason it is very likely that this was the final Block 4 first stage orbital vehicle. SpaceX has since developed the Block 5 the debuted in May. Together the seven Block 4 Falcon 9’s boosted twelve missions, with most being expended on the second flight. This stage was purposely expended at the end of the mission, the ninth purposeful expenditure in the last twelve launches. This stage was not equipped with landing legs or titanium steering grid fins. It was the 14th flight of a previously flown Falcon 9 first stage, and the eighth to be expended on the second flight.

B1045.2 had previously boosted NASA’s TESS towards orbit on April 18th 2018, I wrote about that launch here. With it returning to the autonomous drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” downrange. For this mission it launched the two stage rocket and powered it for 2 minutes and 51 seconds. With a Dragon 11.2 refurbished spacecraft that was previously used on CRS-9 in July 2016 the main payload for the rocket. The first put the capsule and the second stage into a 227 x 387 km x 51.64 degree orbit. The block 5 second stage burned for about 8 minutes and 31 seconds after liftoff, inserting Dragon into the required orbit. The burn was 36 seconds shorter than previous Block 4 launches as this rocket had higher thrust. Dragon rendezvoused with the ISS on the 2nd of July after an extended coast.
Filled with more than 5,900 pounds of @NASA cargo and research materials, Dragon was captured by @Space_Station crew members and attached to the orbiting laboratory earlier this week for its month long stay. https://t.co/3owFVh13Iy pic.twitter.com/El6AFXrdoN
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 7, 2018

This launch left a particularly cool looking smoke cloud afterwards. With many Twitter users posting images of the smoke remnants hundreds of miles away. The night launch also allowed for some great photos by many of the keen photographers that are at every launch, capturing many of the images in this post. To see more of the awesome rocket launches, I have posted about many, and will continue to do so.

To find similar photos, and to buy reasonably priced prints of some of the above visit www.marcuscotephotography.com