The fifth official SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract now is scheduled to launch at 4:47 a.m. EST Saturday, Jan. 10, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA Television coverage of the launch will begin at 3:30 a.m.
The previous launch attempt on Tuesday was aborted with one minute, 21 seconds left on the countdown clock because engineers observed drift on one of two thrust vector control actuators for the Falcon 9’s second stage and stopped the countdown.
A Saturday launch will result in the Dragon spacecraft arriving at the space station Monday, Jan. 12. Expedition 42 Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore of NASA will use the station’s 57.7-foot robotic arm to capture Dragon at approximately 6 a.m. Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency will support Wilmore as they operate from the station’s cupola. NASA TV coverage of grapple will begin at 4:30 a.m. Coverage of Dragon’s installation to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module will begin at 8:15 a.m.
If the launch does not take place Saturday, the next launch opportunity would be Tuesday, Jan. 13 at about 3:36 a.m.
Dragon’s cargo will support more than 250 experiments that will be conducted by the space station’s Expeditions 42 and 43 crews.
For an updated schedule of prelaunch events and NASA TV coverage, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1FrjDEO
For launch countdown coverage, NASA’s launch blog, and more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/spacex
For NASA TV schedule and video streaming information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)