SpaceX will launch its subsequent cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) subsequent week, if all goes in accordance with plan.
Elon Musk‘s firm is focusing on Tuesday (March 14) for the launch of CRS-27, which is able to ship a robotic SpaceX Dragon freighter to the orbiting lab for NASA.
The Dragon is scheduled to carry off atop a Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT on March 15) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, company officers introduced on Thursday (March 9). It will arrive on the ISS round 7:07 a.m. (1207 GMT) subsequent Thursday (March 16).
This plan is just not set in stone, nevertheless. It is dependent upon the on-time return to Earth of SpaceX’s Crew-5 astronaut mission, which is scheduled to undock from the ISS early Saturday morning (March 11) and splash down that very same evening.
Whenever CRS-27 lifts off, you may watch it right here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA and SpaceX. We’ll additionally carry footage of Dragon’s ISS rendezvous and docking.
Related: Facts about SpaceX’s Dragon capsule
CRS-27 is so named as a result of it is the twenty seventh uncrewed mission to the International Space Station that SpaceX will fly below its industrial resupply companies contract with NASA.
Dragon will carry up a wide range of provides, {hardware} and scientific experiments for the ISS crew on CRS-27. Among the science gear is a student-built challenge that might make it simpler to movie in space and a Japanese investigation known as Tanpopo-5, which “studies the origin, transportation and survival of life in space and on extraterrestrial planets,” NASA officers wrote in an update on Thursday (opens in new tab).
“Dragon will also deliver the final two experiments from the National Institutes for Health and International Space Station National Laboratory’s Tissue Chips in Space (opens in new tab) initiative,” they added. “Both research, Cardinal Heart 2.0 (opens in new tab) and Engineered Heart Tissues-2 (opens in new tab), use small devices containing living cells that mimic functions of human tissues and organs to advance the development of treatments for cardiac dysfunction.”
Dragon is one among three robotic cargo ships presently servicing the ISS. The different two — Russia’s Progress automobile and Cygnus, which is constructed by Virginia-based firm Northrop Grumman — are expendable, burning up in Earth’s environment on the finish of their missions.
Dragon, nevertheless, is designed to outlive reentry, haul scientific experiments and different gear again all the way down to Earth, and fly once more. CRS-27’s capsule is anticipated to spend a couple of month on the ISS earlier than heading dwelling, NASA officers mentioned in Thursday’s replace.
CRS-27 will take to the skies lower than two weeks after SpaceX’s newest astronaut launch to the ISS, the Crew-6 mission, which lifted off on March 2. SpaceX flies these astronaut missions below a special NASA contract, utilizing Crew Dragon capsules, a special variant than the automobile that makes robotic resupply flights.
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a e book in regards to the seek for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
