A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule is scheduled to reach on the International Space Station early Saturday morning (Nov. 11), and you may watch the motion live.
The robotic Dragon launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday evening (Nov. 9), kicking off the corporate’s CRS-29 cargo mission for NASA.
If all goes in keeping with plan, the Dragon will dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday at 5:21 a.m. EST (1021 GMT). You may watch the rendezvous live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV, starting at 3:45 a.m. EST (0845 GMT).
Dragon is carrying greater than 6,500 kilos (2,950 kilograms) of supplies and scientific hardware on CRS-29, which is the twenty ninth cargo mission SpaceX has flown to the ISS for NASA. (CRS stands for “Industrial Resupply Services.”)
Among the many scientific gear is a NASA experiment called AWE, or “Atmospheric Waves Experiment,” which can study gravity waves in Earth’s atmosphere.
Also going up with the parcel is the agency’s ILLUMA-T project (short for “Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal”). ILLUMA-T will test high-speed laser communications in orbit, exchanging signals with the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration, an instrument that launched aboard a U.S. military satellite in December 2021.
And beyond the science, Dragon can also be hauling up some holiday treats for the ISS astronauts on this flight, including pumpkin spice cappuccinos, turkey and cranberry sauce, NASA officials said.
Dragon will spend a couple of month on the ISS, if all goes in keeping with plan. The craft will then come back to Earth with 3,800 kilos (1,724 kg) of cargo loaded on by the ISS astronauts, NASA officials said.
No other space station cargo craft has this return capability. The opposite two operational freighters — Northop Grumman’s Cygnus craft and Russia’s Progress vehicle — are disposable. At the tip of their missions, they burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.