[10] The launch occurred on 8 October 2012 at 00:34:07 UTC and successfully placed the Dragon spacecraft into the proper orbit for arriving at the International Space Station with cargo resupply several days later.

The remaining eight engines fired for a longer period of time and the flight control software adjusted the trajectory to insert Dragon into a near-flawless orbit.

[15] The mission plan, as published by NASA before the mission, called for the Falcon 9 to reach supersonic speed at 70 seconds after liftoff, and pass through the area of maximum aerodynamic pressure, "max Q" — the point when mechanical stress on the launch vehicle peaks due to a combination of the velocity and resistance created by the Atmosphere of Earth — 10 seconds later.

The plan called for two of the first-stage engines to shut down to reduce the launch vehicle's acceleration at approximately 2 minutes 30 seconds into the flight when the Falcon 9 would nominally be 90 km (56 mi) high and traveling at 10 times the speed of sound.

[16] At that point, Expedition 33 crewmember Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency used the station's 17.6 m (58 ft) robotic arm, known as Canadarm2, reached for and grappled the Dragon spacecraft at 10:56 UTC.

[6] Hoshide, with the help of Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA, guided Dragon to the Earth-facing side of the station's Harmony module.

[6] Over a period of two and a half weeks, the ISS crew unloaded Dragon's payload and reloaded it with cargo for return to Earth.

It takes about 30 minutes for Dragon to reenter in the Earth's atmosphere, allowing it to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, about 450 km (280 mi) off the coast of southern California.

In a carefully timed sequence of events, dual drogue parachutes deploy at an altitude of 13,700 m (44,900 ft) to stabilize and slow the spacecraft.

Once the Dragon capsule splashed down, the recovery team secured the vehicle and then placed it on deck for the journey back to shore.

[17] The rest of the cargo was unloaded once the Dragon capsule reached SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas.

[23][24] Both SpaceX and Orbcomm were aware, prior to the mission, of the high risk that the secondary payload satellite could remain at the lower altitude of the Dragon insertion orbit, and that was a risk that Orbcomm agreed to take given the dramatically lower cost of launch for a secondary payload.

1, and as a result continued the first-stage burn on the remaining eight engines longer than usual at a somewhat reduced thrust to insert the Dragon spacecraft into the proper orbit.

During flight, the data suggests this material flaw ultimately developed into a breach in the main combustion chamber.

1 and Falcon 9 continued on its path to ensure Dragon's entry into orbit for subsequent rendezvous and berthing with the ISS.