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SpaceX launches Dragon on 2nd space station resupply mission [i] A commercial cargo spacecraft was launched Friday (March 1) on a NASA-contracted flight to resupply the International Space Station (ISS), but an issue with the capsule's maneuvering thrusters has called the flight's success into question. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) launched their Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Dragon cargo capsule at 10:10 a.m. EST (1510 GMT) on Friday (March 1) from Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch, according to the company, proceeded as planned and the Dragon was placed into its intended orbit. Soon after separating from the rocket however, the Dragon experienced a problem with a pressurization line that prevented three of the capsule's four thruster pods from operating. The Dragon is outfitted with a total of 18 jets — two pods with four and two with five — that are used to adjust the capsule's attitude and approach to the station. "We noticed after separation that only one of the four thruster pods engaged or was ready to engage," Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO, told reporters during a post-launch telecon. "And then we saw the oxidizer pressure in two of the four tanks was low. And so we spent several hours trying to fix the problem and we think we have. If that's the case, it is certainly going to be a huge relief and we'll be really glad... and hopefully be able to deliver the cargo that we intended to deliver."[/i]
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