SpaceX CRS-15 Briefings and Events
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars upward after lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 4:30 p.m. EDT, on April 2, 2018, carrying the SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray, Tim Powers, Tim Terry
NASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX is targeting no earlier than 2:42 a.m. PDT (5:42 a.m. EDT) Friday, June 29, for the launch of its 15th resupply mission to theInternational Space Station. The cargo includesECOSTRESS, developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. ECOSTRESS measures the temperature of plants to better understand how much water plants need and how they respond to stress.
Live coverage will begin on NASA Television and the agency'swebsiteThursday, June 28, with prelaunch events.
Packed with more than 5,900 pounds ofresearch, crew supplies and hardware, the SpaceX Dragonspacecraft will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. About 10 minutes after launch, Dragon reaches its preliminary orbit, at which point it will deploy its solar arrays and begin a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings to reach theInternational Space Station.
In addition to bringing research to station, the Dragon's unpressurized trunk is carrying a new Canadian-built Latching End Effector, or LEE. Thisnew LEE is being launched as a spare to replace the failed unit astronauts removed during a seriesof spacewalks in the fall of 2017. Each end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm has an identical LEE, and they are used as the "hands" that grapple payloads and visiting cargo spaceships. They also enable Canadarm2 to "walk" to different locations on the orbiting outpost.
In collaboration with the National Park Service, a toy dog also is headed to the space station, representing the Newfoundland dog that accompanied explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their historic expedition in the 1800s. It will help the two agencies celebrate NASA's 60th anniversary and the National Trail System's 50th anniversary.
The Dragon spacecraft will take three days to reach the space station, arriving Monday, July 2. NASA astronautRicky Arnold, backed up by fellow NASA astronautDrew Feustel, will supervise the operation of the Canadarm2 roboticarm for Dragon's capture while NASA astronautSerena Auñón-Chancellormonitors the spacecraft's systems. After Dragon capture, ground commands will be sent from mission control in Houston for the station's arm to rotate and install it on the bottom of the station's Harmony module.
- Source NASA
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