It’s take two for SpaceX’s CRS-19 mission, the 19th Commercial Resupply Mission (see how that works?) it’s flying under contract with NASA. The goal of these missions is to ferry supplies, experimental materials and other equipment to the International Space Station, where it’ll be unloaded by the astronauts living and working aboard the orbiting research station.
SpaceX will be looking to launch this one at 12:29 PM EST (9:29 AM PST), during a backup window after the original planned launch on Wednesday was scrubbed due to high altitude winds. It’s not uncommon for a launch to be pushed back due to weather conditions, and there’s always a chance that today’s attempt could be postponed as well, though currently there’s no additional backup opportunity specified for the next try. The launch livestream from SpaceX above will begin at around 15 minutes before the liftoff time, so around 12:14 PM EST (9:14 AM PST).
This mission will continue SpaceX’s great track record with re-using elements of past launch and mission vehicles, with a Dragon cargo capsule (carrying 5,200 lbs of payload) that has flown twice before – once in 2014 and once in 2017. SpaceX will also look to recover the first stage booster of the Falcon 9 which will carry the Dragon to orbit.
On board, there’s a range of different science experiments, including one from Budweiser seeking to find out how beer production works in space, and new equipment for the ISS, like a robot garage for parking robotic equipment when it’s not in use.
from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2DPCAI4
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