A SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft carrying more than 5,800 pounds of science experiments, crew supplies, and other cargo is on its way to the International Space Station after launching at 8:44 p.m. EDT Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon cargo craft atop stands at the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. More than 5,800 pounds of new science experiments and crew supplies are packed inside Dragon awaiting a liftoff tonight at 8:44 p.m. EDT.
The U.S. commercial resupply ship will orbit Earth for a day-and-a-half before catching up to the International Space Station on Saturday. Expedition 67 Flight Engineers Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins of NASA will be on duty monitoring Dragon during its automated approach and rendezvous until it automatically docks to the Harmony module’s forward port at 11:20 a.m.
Hines, Watkins, and NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren are off-duty today relaxing before kicking off a weekend of preparations for the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon. The trio will spend Friday configuring station research hardware to accommodate the new science experiments as well as reviewing Dragon’s rendezvous and cargo operations. Hines and Watkins will open Dragon’s hatch about an hour-and-half after docking on Saturday. The duo will then be joined by Lindgren and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti to begin unpacking and activating critical research.
Cristoforetti was busy on Friday working on other ongoing space station experiments. She first reviewed procedures for an experiment that uses metal surfaces with different textures and properties as a way to prevent microbial growth in microgravity. Afterward, she connected the Kubik temperature-controlled incubator to the Columbus laboratory module’s power supply. Cristoforetti also turned on the Astrobee robotic free-flyers that began remotely maneuvering inside the Kibo laboratory module using algorithms programmed by students on Earth.
Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev participated in a fitness evaluation on Thursday morning. The cosmonauts took turns pedaling on an exercise cycle with sensors attached to themselves that monitored and recorded their cardiac activity. Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov worked on Russian ventilation systems before videotaping and photographing crew activities on the station.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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Mark Garcia
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President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he has appointed NASA Administrator Bill Nelson as one of four new members of the Cancer Cabinet, part of the President’s Cancer Moonshot.
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The Expedition 67 crew members are training for this weekend’s arrival of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft to the International Space Station as it prepares for its launch on Thursday.
Mission managers have given the go for the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship as it counts down to a liftoff toward the space station at 8:44 p.m. EDT on Thursday. Dragon, attached to the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and carrying 5,800 pounds of science experiments and crew supplies, rolled out to the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday. The U.S. commercial cargo craft will orbit Earth for a day-and-a-half before docking to the Harmony module’s forward port at 11:20 a.m. on Saturday. NASA TV, on the agency’s app and website, will begin its live launch coverage at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday.
NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines spent Wednesday afternoon reviewing procedures on a computer for Dragon’s automated rendezvous and docking to Harmony on Saturday. The two flight engineers were also joined by NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren staging cargo that will be returned inside Dragon at the end of its monthlong mission at the orbital lab.
The three astronauts, including ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti, also called down to Houston today to begin planning for their return to Earth later this year. The quartet arrived at the station on April 27 aboard the Dragon Freedom as part of the SpaceX Crew-4 commercial crew mission.
Two cosmonauts, Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov, took turns on Wednesday participating in a long-running study that explores ways to pilot a spacecraft or operate a robotic rover on future planetary missions. Flight Engineer Denis Matveev inspected and wiped down surfaces for microbes in the Zvezda service module.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/
Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe
Mark Garcia
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For the 10th consecutive year, the Partnership for Public Service has ranked NASA the Best Place to Work in the Federal Government among large agencies.
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