NASA commercial cargo provider Northrop Grumman is targeting 12:36 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 20, for the launch of its 15th resupply mission to the International Space Station. Live coverage of the launch from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, will air on NASA Television, the agencys website and the NASA app beginning at 12 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 20, with a prelaunch event Friday, Feb. 19.
Loaded with approximately 8,000 pounds of research, crew supplies, and hardware, Northrop Grummans Cygnus cargo spacecraft will launch on the companys Antares rocket from Virginia Spaces Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.
The Cygnus spacecraft, dubbed the SS Katherine Johnson, will arrive at the space station Monday, Feb. 22. About 4:40 a.m.,Expedition 64 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi will capture Cygnus, with NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins acting as a backup. After Cygnus capture, mission control in Houston will send ground commands for the stations arm to rotate and install it on the stations Unity module Earth-facing port.
Highlights of space station research facilitated by this Cygnus mission are:
- Spaceborne Computer-2, a high-performance commercial off-the-shelf computer system being studied to increase data processing speeds for science aboard the space station
- LambdaVisions, second experiment headed to the space station to study the advantages of manufacturing artificial retinas in space
- Micro-16, an investigation studying muscle strength changes in worms to help us better understand muscle weakening that astronauts can experience in microgravity
- The Real-Time Protein Crystal Growth-2 experiment, which will demonstrate new methods for producing high-quality protein crystals in microgravity
- A-HoSS, a radiation detection system developed for the Orion spacecraft and certified for use on NASAs Artemis II mission, the first mission on which a crew of astronauts will orbit the Moon in the spacecraft
- Exploration ECLSS: Brine Processor System, a demonstration in regenerative life support technology that will help provide more clean air and water to the space station crew.
Complete coverage of launch activities is as follows:
Friday, Feb. 19
11 a.m. Pre-launch News Conference with the following participants:
- Joel Montalbano, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA
- Heidi Parris,associate program scientist, International Space Station Program Science Office, NASA
- Shannon Fitzpatrick, chief, Range and Mission Management Office, Wallops Flight Facility, NASA
- Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager, Tactical Space, Northrop Grumman
- Kurt Eberly, director, Space Launch Programs, Launch and Missile Defense Systems, Northrop Grumman
Saturday, Feb. 20
12 p.m. Launch coverage begins
Monday, Feb. 22
3 a.m. Rendezvous coverage begins
4 a.m. Capture of Cygnus with the space stations robotic arm
6 a.m. Cygnus installation operations coverage
