NASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX is targeting Saturday, Aug. 28, at 3:37a.m. EDT to launch its 23rd commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff will be from Launch Complex 39A at the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceXs Dragon spacecraft will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the international crew.
Live coverage will air onNASA Television, theNASA appand the agencyswebsite,with prelaunch events starting Friday, Aug. 27.
Dragon will deliver a variety of NASA investigations, including one that will determine if metabolites from grape skins and seeds used in wine making could help prevent and treat osteoporosis. A new robotic armscheduled for demonstration could reveal potential uses on Earth, including in disaster relief.Another experiment will test an implantable, remote-controlled drug delivery system that will utilize anew research facilityaboard the orbiting laboratory. Several Girl Scouts experiments also will use this new facility to study plants, ants, and brine shrimp in microgravity.
About 12 minutes after launch, Dragon will separate from the Falcon 9 rockets second stageand begin a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings to reach the space station. Arrival to the station is planned for Sunday, Aug. 29. Dragon will dock autonomously to the forward-facing port of the stationsHarmony module,with Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur of NASA monitoring operations.
The spacecraft is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and return cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.
Full coverage of this mission is as follows (all times Eastern):
Friday, Aug. 27
9:30 to 11 a.m. Previously credentialed media will have an opportunity to speak one-on-one with scientists in their labs and other subject matter experts at Kennedys Space Station Processing Facility. All participants must comply with COVID-19 safety protocols.
