Liftoff of SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Carrying Dragon
Resupply Spacecraft
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rises above the lightning masts on Space Launch
Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying the Dragon resupply
spacecraft to the International Space Station. Liftoff was during an
instantaneous window at 3:25 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 18. Dragon is making its
fourth trip to the space station. The SpaceX-3 mission, carrying almost 2.5 tons
of supplies, technology and science experiments, is the third of 12 flights
under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract to resupply the orbiting
laboratory.
Image Credit: NASA/Kim
Shiflett
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from the Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Image Credit: NASA TV
The
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Dragon spacecraft loaded with nearly 2.5
tons of supplies and experiment hardware for the International Space Station’s
Expedition 39 crew, lifted off at 3:25 p.m. EDT Friday from Launch Complex 40 at
the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Friday’s launch of the third SpaceX commercial resupply services mission sent
the Dragon space freighter on a course to rendezvous with the station Sunday
morning. Commander Koichi Wakata and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio will
capture Dragon using the Canadarm2 robotic arm at 7:14 a.m. to set it up for its
berthing to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module. Live NASA Television
coverage of Sunday’s Dragon activities begins at 5:45 a.m. and returns at 9:30
a.m. for coverage of the berthing of Dragon to the Earth-facing port of the
Harmony node.
The scientific payloads on Dragon include investigations that focus on
efficient ways to grow plants in space, demonstrating laser optics to
communicate with Earth, human immune system function in microgravity and Earth
observation. Also being delivered is a set of high-tech legs for Robonaut 2,
which can provide the humanoid robot torso already aboard the orbiting
laboratory with the mobility it needs to help with regular and repetitive tasks
inside the space station.
Dragon also will deliver the second set of investigations sponsored by the
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the
portion of the space station designated a U.S. National Laboratory. CASIS
investigations on Dragon are part of the organization's initial suite of
supported payloads linked to Advancing Research Knowledge 1, or ARK 1. The
investigations include research on protein crystal growth, which may lead to
drug development through protein mapping, and plant biology.
Meanwhile aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition 39 crew is
in the homestretch of preparations for a spacewalk to replace a failed backup
computer relay box in the S0 truss. That 2 ½-hour spacewalk by Mastracchio and
Flight Engineer Steve Swanson is slated to begin at 9:20 a.m. Wednesday.
The spacewalk will be the 179th in support of space station assembly and
maintenance, the ninth in Mastracchio’s career and the fifth for Swanson.
Mastracchio will carry the designation of EV 1, wearing the spacesuit bearing
red stripes. Swanson will be EV 2, wearing the spacesuit without stripes.
Flight Engineers Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson
(partially obscured) install a new circuit board inside a spare
multiplexer-demultiplexer aboard the International Space Station.
Image Credit: NASA TV
Mastracchio
and Flight Engineer Steve Swanson installed a new circuit board inside a spare
multiplexer-demultiplexer (MDM) that they will carry with them outside the
station to replace the backup MDM that failed during routine testing April 11.
The failed unit is one of the station's two external MDMs that provide commands
to some of the space station's systems, including the external cooling system,
solar alpha rotary joints and mobile transporter rail car.
After the two NASA astronauts installed the new card in the spare MDM, Wakata
worked with the ground team at Mission Control in Houston to perform a
functional checkout of the spare.
Afterward, Mastracchio trimmed a spare thermal insulator sheet to properly
fit the MDM.
Wakata also found time for station science with another session of the Hybrid
Training experiment. This Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency study takes a look
the health benefits of applying electric stimulation to a muscle opposing the
voluntary contraction of an active muscle. In addition to providing a backup to
the traditional exercise devices aboard the station, Hybrid Training may be
useful in keeping astronauts fit as they travel beyond low Earth orbit aboard
smaller spacecraft.
Mastracchio took a brief break from his work to talk with students at his
three alma maters -- the University of Connecticut, the Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in Troy, New York, and the University of Houston-Clear Lake near the
Johnson Space Center.
Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin spent much of his day working in the Zvezda
service module as he cleaned ventilation screens and performed routine
maintenance on the Russian life-support system.
Flight Engineer Alexander Skvortsov performed another session of the
Kulonovskiy Kristall experiment, gathering information about charged particles
in a weightless environment.
Skvortsov also teamed up with Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev to unload items
from the ISS Progress 53 cargo craft docked at the aft port of Zvezda. Progress
53 is set to undock from the station on Wednesday, April 23, at 4:54 a.m. to
test its Kurs automated rendezvous equipment. The vehicle will redock with
Zvezda on April 25 at 8:16 a.m. Progress 53 delivered 2.9 tons of food, fuel and
supplies to the station on Nov. 29 following a four-day journey that included a
“flyby” of the station to test a new lighter, revamped Kurs system .
And after 11 days of free flight for engineering tests, the Russian ISS
Progress 54 cargo ship, now loaded with trash from the station, was commanded to
deorbit for its fiery entry into the Earth’s atmosphere for disposal. The
deorbit burn at 10:52 a.m. sent the cargo craft on a course for atmospheric
entry over the Pacific Ocean at 11:32 a.m.
NASA Cargo Launches to Space Station aboard SpaceX
Resupply Mission
Nearly 2.5 tons of NASA science investigations and cargo are on the way to
the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. The
spacecraft launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 3:25 p.m. EDT Friday, April 18.
The mission is the company's third cargo delivery flight to the station
through a $1.6 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract. Dragon's
cargo will support more than 150 experiments to be conducted by the crews of ISS
Expeditions 39 and 40.
"SpaceX is delivering important research experiments and cargo to the space station," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "The diversity and number of new experiments is phenomenal. The investigations aboard Dragon will help us improve our understanding of how humans adapt to living in space for long periods of time and help us develop technologies that will enable deep space exploration."
The scientific payloads on Dragon include investigations into efficient plant growth in space, human immune system function in microgravity, Earth observation, and a demonstration of laser optics communication. Also being delivered is a set of high-tech legs for Robonaut 2, which will provide the humanoid robot torso already aboard the orbiting laboratory the mobility it needs to help with regular and repetitive tasks inside the space station.
Dragon also will deliver a second set of investigations sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the portion of the space station that is designated a U.S. National Laboratory. The investigations include research into plant biology and protein crystal growth, a field of study experts believe may lead to beneficial advancements in drug development through protein mapping.
On its way to the ISS, SpaceX's Falcon rocket jettisoned five small research satellites known as CubeSats that will perform a variety of technology demonstrations. The small satellites are part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ElaNa, mission, and involved more than 120 students in their design, development and construction. One of the satellites, PhoneSat 2.5, is the third in a series of CubeSat missions designed to use commercially available smartphone technology as part of a low-cost development effort to provide basic spacecraft capabilities. Another of the small satellites, SporeSat, is designed to help scientists study the mechanisms by which plant cells sense gravity -- valuable research in the larger effort to grow plants in space.
Dragon will be grappled at 7:14 a.m. on Sunday, April 20, by Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, using the space station's robotic arm to take hold of the spacecraft. NASA's Rick Mastracchio will support Wakata in a backup position. Dragon is scheduled to depart the space station May 18 for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, bringing from the space station nearly 3,500 pounds of science, hardware, crew supplies and spacewalk tools.
The ISS is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has been continuously occupied since November 2000. In that time, it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.
For more information about SpaceX's third cargo resupply mission and the International Space Station, visit:
"SpaceX is delivering important research experiments and cargo to the space station," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "The diversity and number of new experiments is phenomenal. The investigations aboard Dragon will help us improve our understanding of how humans adapt to living in space for long periods of time and help us develop technologies that will enable deep space exploration."
The scientific payloads on Dragon include investigations into efficient plant growth in space, human immune system function in microgravity, Earth observation, and a demonstration of laser optics communication. Also being delivered is a set of high-tech legs for Robonaut 2, which will provide the humanoid robot torso already aboard the orbiting laboratory the mobility it needs to help with regular and repetitive tasks inside the space station.
Dragon also will deliver a second set of investigations sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the portion of the space station that is designated a U.S. National Laboratory. The investigations include research into plant biology and protein crystal growth, a field of study experts believe may lead to beneficial advancements in drug development through protein mapping.
On its way to the ISS, SpaceX's Falcon rocket jettisoned five small research satellites known as CubeSats that will perform a variety of technology demonstrations. The small satellites are part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ElaNa, mission, and involved more than 120 students in their design, development and construction. One of the satellites, PhoneSat 2.5, is the third in a series of CubeSat missions designed to use commercially available smartphone technology as part of a low-cost development effort to provide basic spacecraft capabilities. Another of the small satellites, SporeSat, is designed to help scientists study the mechanisms by which plant cells sense gravity -- valuable research in the larger effort to grow plants in space.
Dragon will be grappled at 7:14 a.m. on Sunday, April 20, by Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, using the space station's robotic arm to take hold of the spacecraft. NASA's Rick Mastracchio will support Wakata in a backup position. Dragon is scheduled to depart the space station May 18 for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, bringing from the space station nearly 3,500 pounds of science, hardware, crew supplies and spacewalk tools.
The ISS is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has been continuously occupied since November 2000. In that time, it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.
For more information about SpaceX's third cargo resupply mission and the International Space Station, visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzachez Achutegui
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