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Yesterday SpaceX launched their fifth contracted resupply mission to the ISS, CRS-5. The Falcon 9 rocket carried SpaceX's own Dragon spacecraft laden with supplies. It also carried the Cloud Aerosol Transport System, an Earth-facing LiDAR instrument that will be used from the ISS to study aerosols such as volcanic dust.
This mission faced numerous delays due to a number of factors: the Antares launch failure last year, which necessitated changes to the cargo manifest; an anomaly during the static test fire in December; beta cutout with the ISS; and finally a second stage actuator fault that appeared during the terminal count on Tuesday's launch attempt.
This launch was also SpaceX's first attempt to recover the first stage using additional engine burns after stage separation. The first stage was to then land on a barge at sea, and while the rocket hit the target, it came down too hard and was apparently destroyed. The unusual structures seen on the rocket are grid fins (above) and legs (below) that facilitate landing.
http://www.mikedeep.com/Aerospace/Rockets/SpaceX-CRS-5/i-MgZWqMZ/0/L/2015_01_10_04_41_56_40D_9722-L.jpg
http://www.mikedeep.com/Aerospace/Rockets/SpaceX-CRS-5/i-Mx8QZd5/0/L/2015_01_10_05_46_16_1D2_1569-L.jpg
http://www.mikedeep.com/Aerospace/Rockets/SpaceX-CRS-5/i-5hw2HW9/0/L/2015_01_10_05_48_27_350_1743-L.jpg
http://www.mikedeep.com/Aerospace/Rockets/SpaceX-CRS-5/i-qqjScKB/0/L/2015_01_10_05_49_25_1D3_8398-L.jpg
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