SpaceX Targets 6,500-Pound Cargo Flight — Rocket Launch Today
SpaceX planned a rocket launch today at 6:50 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, sending a Dragon cargo spacecraft toward the International Space Station if weather allows. The uncrewed Falcon 9 flight carried about 6,500 pounds of science experiments, crew supplies and lab hardware for Expedition 74.
NASA said the spacecraft was expected to orbit Earth for half a day before an automated docking to the Harmony module’s forward port at 7:35 a.m. on Thursday. For station crews, the flight sets up the delivery of research materials and supplies already packed inside Dragon’s portable science freezers.
Chris Williams and Crew Review Cargo
NASA flight engineer Chris Williams joined Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and ESA flight engineer Sophie Adenot on Wednesday for a mission readiness review and a look at Dragon cargo operations. The four called down to flight controllers as they reviewed the approach, while Williams also worked in the Tranquility module configuring hardware and making room for a new water recycling system.
Meir swapped out materials research hardware inside the Kibo laboratory module’s airlock for later placement into the external environment of space. She also scanned Adenot’s leg veins with the Ultrasound 3 biomedical device while Adenot wore the sensor-packed Bio-Monitor vest and headband during exercise.
Harmony Module Docking Plan
Hathaway and Adenot were scheduled to monitor Dragon during its automated approach and rendezvous on Thursday. The cargo ship’s arrival would begin the next step for the station crew, who were set to unpack critical, time-sensitive research samples a few hours after docking.
The launch coverage was scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime and the agency’s YouTube channel. Readers following the flight can watch the opening attempt from Florida, then look for the automated docking to follow early Thursday morning.
Roscosmos Work On Station
Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev spent Wednesday reviewing procedures for an upcoming spacewalk for external lab maintenance. Kud-Sverchkov collected and stowed saliva samples for analysis, while Mikaev serviced scientific control and data processing hardware.
Andrey Fedyaev pedaled on an exercise cycle for a fitness test and performed maintenance on Roscosmos computer systems. With the cargo ship carrying supplies, experiments and hardware for the Expedition 74 crew, the launch attempt becomes the day’s key handoff between Earth and the station.
