New research and technology demonstrations for NASA are set to launch aboard the agency's SpaceX 30th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for 4:55 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 21, lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Live launch coverage will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website, with prelaunch events starting Tuesday, March 19. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms.
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will deliver new scientific investigations, food, supplies, and equipment to the international crew. NASA and its partners will send studies aboard the mission on plant metabolism in space and a set of new sensors for free-flying Astrobee robots to provide 3D mapping capabilities. Other research includes a fluid physics study that could benefit solar cell technology and a university project from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) that will monitor sea ice and ocean conditions.
Arrival at the station is scheduled for approximately 7:30 a.m. Saturday, March 23. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will dock autonomously to the zenith port of the station's Harmony module.
The spacecraft is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.
Full mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on operations):
Tuesday, March 19
3 p.m. - Prelaunch media teleconference with the following participants:
- Kristi Duplichen, deputy manager, NASA's International Space Station Transportation Integration Office
- Heidi Parris, associate program scientist, NASA's International Space Station Program Research Office
- Sarah Walker, director, SpaceX Dragon mission management
- Melody Lovin, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's 45th Weather Squadron
