Month: February 2017

A pre-launch briefing from Kennedy’s Press Site auditorium will air on NASA TV at 5 p.m. EST today and on the agency’s website. Participants will be:

• Dan Hartman, deputy manager, International Space Station Program, Johnson Space Center
• Tara Ruttley, associate scientist, International Space Station Program, Johnson Space Center
• Jessica Jensen, director, Dragon mission management, SpaceX

Photo credits: NASA/Glenn Benson

With one day before launch, the weather forecast for the SpaceX CRS-10 mission continues to improve. Meteorologists with the Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron now call for a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions at launch time Saturday morning. The primary concern is for potential violation of the thick cloud layer rule for launch.

Liftoff is scheduled for 10:01 a.m. EST from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is to carry an uncrewed Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying about 5,500 pounds of equipment, experiments and supplies to the International Space Station. For a closer look at the mission itself, read our preview feature at http://go.nasa.gov/2lnx2wb.

Here’s the detailed forecast: Cold temperatures this morning will quickly give way to a beautiful, sunny day over the Space Coast. Also today, an upper-level trough generating clouds and precipitation over the central Gulf of Mexico is slowly moving east and strengthening. On Saturday, this upper-level trough will bring moisture over the Florida peninsula. The clouds and isolated rain will steadily progress eastward through the day, although the most significant weather will not make it to the Spaceport until after the launch window. The primary weather concern for launch is the thick cloud cover associated with the upper-level trough. Maximum upper-level winds will be from the southwest at 110 knots at 35,000 feet.

On Sunday, the cloudiness and rain associated with the upper-level trough will continue to slowly move east, diminishing through the countdown. The main weather concern will be cumulus clouds associated with lingering instability. Max upper-level winds will be northwesterly at 80 knots near 34,000 feet.

The forecast issued today from the 45th Weather Squadron calls for a 60 percent chance of acceptable conditions Saturday morning for the launch of the CRS-10 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The main concern is for thick clouds that may violate launch rules. Launch time is 10:01 a.m. EST.

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying about 5,500 pounds of experiments and supplies will launch to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, shown to the right during modifications.  For a detailed look at the launch, the mission and its significance as the first to fly from 39A since the space shuttle, go to http://go.nasa.gov/2lnx2wb

 

For a look at the activities for news media and NASA Social participants leading up to the launch of CRS-10, go to http://go.nasa.gov/2l8ZkIF

 

The weather forecast for Saturday’s planned launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket predicts a 50 percent chance of ‘go’ conditions. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:01 a.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, but meteorologists with the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron cite rain in the flight path and thick cloud layers as weather concerns during the launch window.

The rocket is set to carry a SpaceX Dragon cargo module packed with science experiments and crew supplies bound for the International Space Station. This is the company’s tenth contracted cargo resupply flight to the station. Photo by SpaceX.

The SpaceX launch teams on Sunday conducted a static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket that is being prepared to send a cargo-laden Dragon spacecraft like the one pictured above to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for no earlier than Saturday, Feb. 18, at 10:01 a.m. from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This will be the first launch from that pad since the space shuttle’s last mission in July 2011.

The mission will not launch astronauts, but will carry almost three tons of experiments and supplies for the residents of the orbiting laboratory. After two days in orbit, the Dragon capsule will approach close enough for the station’s robotic arm to grab the capsule and connect it to a port. Astronauts will unpack the Dragon and load it with completed experiments and other materials that need to be returned to Earth. The Dragon’s mission is to last several weeks and will conclude with the capsule parachuting safely into the Pacific Ocean where it will be retrieved. Top photo by NASA, side photo by SpaceX.