SpaceX’s Next Resupply Mission Will Be Launched From Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40 Launch Pad

SpaceX is currently reviving the Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida and will launch its next resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from this pad in December 2017, NASA has announced.

This will be SpaceX’s thirteenth mission for the American space agency under Commercial Resupply Services contract and the first from SLC-40 launch pad since September 2016, when this pad was badly damaged following a massive explosion in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

That nasty explosion occurred when SpaceX engineers were conducting a static fire test—a routine activity carried out before every SpaceX space mission. The explosion was huge in terms of the damage, according to the Verge. It completely destroyed the Falcon 9 rocket and also caused heavy damage to the SLC-40 pad. An expensive Amos 6 satellite built by Israel firm Spacecom was also destroyed in this explosion. Spacecom had built this satellite for Facebook to let it provide high-speed internet access in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

An internal investigation carried out by SpaceX’s senior scientists revealed that the explosion most likely occurred due to faulty helium containers in the rocket. The Hawthorne-based company later announced to incorporate changes in the design of the rocket to prevent the occurrence of such incidents in future.

The explosion forced SpaceX to halt its space mission for more than four months, before successfully returning to flights in January this year. In the past 10 months, SpaceX has completed 15 space missions, and none of them was a failure.

SpaceX has been using LC-39A launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its space missions since September 2016. LC-39A is the same launch pad that was once used for launching Apollo lunar missions as well as several other space missions.

According to the NASA, SpaceX will use a uncrewed, Dragon CRS-6 spacecraft for its resupply mission in December. This spacecraft was first used during the sixth commercial resupply mission in April 2015.

“In addition to supplies and equipment, Dragon will deliver several science investigations to the space station, including a Nasa instrument called Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor, or TSIS-1, which will measure the Sun’s energy input to Earth, and a fibre optic payload,” NASA said in its statement.

NASA’s latest announcement also suggests that the restoration work at SLC-40 is almost complete. Once SLC-40 becomes operational, it’ll be easy for SpaceX to focus on a LC-39A launch pad for the first flight of its Falcon Heavy rocket.

Although there is no official announcement from SpaceX regarding the flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket, Elon Musk had indicated in July this year that the first flight of this rocket could come up by November 2017.

[Featured Image by Bill Ingalls/Getty Images]