The two-stage Falcon 9 launch vehicle lifts off carrying the SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station for its 16th commercial resupply services mission.NASA
SpaceX will shortly be launching another resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The SpaceX launch is scheduled to take place at 4:21 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 30. This will mark SpaceX’s 17th mission as part of the NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract, under which SpaceX delivers food, scientific equipment, and other supplies to the ISS.
The launch will make use of a Dragon reusable spacecraft, launched by a Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The Dragon is reusable in that components used to form the capsule, like the hull, thrusters, propellant tanks, and other structural elements, can be used for multiple launches. Other parts of the capsule, like the heat shield and batteries, must be replaced for each launch.
SpaceX is in the public eye for less than positive reasons lately, as apossible explosion of their new Crew Dragon capsuleoccurred during testing last week. But this shouldn’t affect the launch of the Dragon spacecraft, which is different from the new Crew Dragon capsule.
The Dragon craft will carry equipment to enable more scientific experiments aboard the ISS, including NASA’sOrbiting Carbon Observatory3 (OCO-3) andSpace Test Program-Houston 6(STP-H6). The OCO-3 is for measuring and mapping the levels of carbon dioxide on our planet from space, which is important for understanding carbon’s role in climate change. The STP-H6 is a system for tracking and space communications. It uses X-rays instead of the radio wave frequencies which are typically used for communications, generating beams of X-rays which are modulated by an ultraviolet light-emitting diode (LED).
The journey to the ISS will take two days, and on its arrival the craft will be grabbed by the ISS’s robotic arm, controlled by Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques. Once the craft has been captured, it will be installed at the bottom of the ISS module Harmony.
If you want to watch the launch, live coverage will be available throughNASA TVstarting on Monday. The relevant events are as follows (all times EDT):
