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SpaceX and NASA prepare for 30th ISS resupply mission
Mar
NASA and SpaceX are making ready to launch the thirtieth resupply mission to the Worldwide Area Station no sooner than Thursday, March twenty first, at 4:55 pm ET.
The Cargo Dragon capsule will ship hundreds of kilos of provides and experiments to the ISS, serving to keep the orbiting outpost.
New @ISS_Research and applied sciences for @NASA are set to launch aboard the company’s @SpaceX thirtieth business resupply companies mission to @Space_Station!
Launch is focused for 4:55pm ET March 21 from Area Launch Complicated 40.
Full mission protection: https://t.co/iWHzvd8S0U pic.twitter.com/ZjeJfhJQCL
— NASA’s Kennedy Area Heart (@NASAKennedy) March 18, 2024
This would be the first mission from Area Launch Complicated-40 to make the most of the newly constructed Crew Entry Tower. Sarah Walker, SpaceX Dragon mission administration director, indicated that the tower is now totally accredited for each Crew and Cargo launches from SLC-40.
Walker additionally mentioned the Crew Entry Tower was much like the tower at Launch Complicated-39A however with an upgraded elevator, fireplace security, and a unique emergency escape system in order that as a substitute of baskets down a zipper line, a slide deploys and astronauts merely slide down the chute.
Groups check the brand new emergency chutes from the pad 40 crew tower in Florida pic.twitter.com/rWVj7zaHp0
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 19, 2024
Listed here are just a few highlights of a few of the experiments flying aboard the CRS-30 mission.
APEX-09 – This can take a look at how microgravity impacts two various kinds of grasses aboard the Area Station and the way they seize carbon dioxide from the environment.
KILLICK-1 – A CubeSat that can use GNSS Reflectometry to measure sea ice thickness and, through the use of GNSS-R, will present a cheap technique to collect worthwhile information.
Multi-resolution Scanner (MRS) Payload for Astrobee — The three little free-floating robots aboard the ISS will obtain a brand new payload to create 3D maps of the orbiting outpost’s inside. The know-how may sooner or later be used to assist keep a spacecraft with out people aboard.
As of writing, it’s at the moment unknown which Falcon 9 will launch the CRS-30 mission. Nevertheless, it would land again at Touchdown Zone 1 following its portion of the flight. The Cargo Dragon is C209, which final flew 373 days in the past and is on its fourth mission to the Worldwide Area Station.
The present climate outlook is optimistic for a Thursday try with an 85% likelihood of acceptable climate circumstances but when one thing had been to stop the launch, the 24 turnaround outlook reveals solely a 20% likelihood of acceptable climate.
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