SpaceX Falcon 9 booster lands at LZ-40

FLORIDA: SpaceX successfully landed its Falcon 9 first-stage booster at Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station shortly after launching the Dragon spacecraft into orbit on Thursday, beginning NASA’s Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The milestone landing followed the launch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. NASA confirmed that the spacecraft has safely reached orbit, separated from Falcon 9’s second stage, and opened its nosecone.

Building on the momentum, NASA has announced a post-launch media briefing scheduled for 1:10 p.m. EDT at the Kennedy Space Centre. The briefing will feature top leadership including NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Dr Lori Glaze of the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, Low Earth Orbit Program Manager Dana Weigel, CSA Director Mathieu Caron, and SpaceX Director Julianna Scheiman.