Watch Live as SpaceX Attempts Its Twenty fifth Cargo Mission to the Space Station

NASA is on the point of launch a SpaceX resupply mission to the International Space Station, with liftoff scheduled for 8:44 p.m. ET on Thursday. You can catch the motion stay proper right here.

The Dragon spacecraft rolled out onto the launchpad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday and mission management has given the ultimate go for launch, according to NASA. Dragon is hooked up to the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and can carry a 5,800-pound (1,800-kilogram) payload to the ISS. The cargo craft will orbit Earth for a day-and-a-half, and is presently scheduled to dock on the ISS Harmony module at 11:20 a.m. ET on Saturday.

NASA will start stay streaming the launch at 8:15 p.m. ET Thursday on NASA TV, which you’ll be able to entry by means of the stay stream under.

The CRS-25 cargo mission will carry science experiments and crew provides to the ISS. Some of the scientific payload making its technique to the orbiting lab embody an experiment on growing old within the microgravity atmosphere, one other on how the house atmosphere impacts soil, and a NASA mission that can take photographs of Earth over the course of a yr to measure the mineral composition of mud within the planet’s arid areas.

NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines are making ready for the docking of the Dragon spacecraft, whereas NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren is prepping cargo that shall be returned with Dragon on the finish of its month-lengthy mission on the ISS, in accordance with NASA.

The mission marks SpaceX’s Twenty fifth uncrewed resupply mission to the ISS, a a part of the corporate’s ongoing partnership with NASA to launch payloads to the orbiting house station. SpaceX additionally transports astronauts to the ISS below a industrial crew contract with NASA, which it has now executed on 4 events.

CRS-25 was initially meant to launch on June 10, however floor groups found elevated vapor ranges of propellant, calling off the launch. The supply of the leak was later recognized as being a defective Draco thruster valve inlet joint, which controls the stream of propellant. But the difficulty has apparently been handled, and the Dragon spacecraft can now carry these a lot wanted provides to the orbital lab.

More: Head of Russian Space Agency Threatens to Withhold Access to New ISS Robotic Arm.