By Tabatha Thompson (NASA HQ) and Amber Philman / Amanda Griffin (Kennedy Space Center); Edited by Karen Northon
ASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX is targeting its 12th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch and surrounding activities will be broadcast via NASA TV and the NASA website.
Loaded with more than 6,400 pounds of research, crew supplies and hardware, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket. The payloads include crucial materials to directly support several of the more than 250 science and research investigations to be conducted on the orbiting laboratory during Expeditions 52 and 53.
Coverage of the launch begins on Sunday, August 13, 2017, when NASA will hold a pre-launch news conference at 2pm (EDT) and a “What’s On Board” science briefing at 3:30pm.
The launch is scheduled for Monday, August 14, 2017, 12:31pm. The launch broadcast will begin around noon on NASA Television and on the NASA website here. Following the launch, there will be a post-launch news conference at 2pm.
About 10 minutes after launch, Dragon will reach its preliminary orbit and deploy its solar arrays. A carefully choreographed series of thruster firings are scheduled to bring the spacecraft to rendezvous with the space station. NASA astronaut Jack Fischer and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Paolo Nespoli will grapple Dragon using the space station’s robotic arm. It then will be installed on the station’s Harmony module.
The Dragon spacecraft will spend approximately one month attached to the space station, returning to Earth in mid-September with results of earlier experiments.
On Wednesday, August 16, 2017, NASA will continue following Dragon with broadcast of the 5:30am spacecraft rendezvous at the space station and Dragon capture, and the 8:30am installation.
Learn more about the SpaceX CRS-12 mission at www.nasa.gov/spacex.
