Hello and good afternoon from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida! A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, topped with the company’s Dragon spacecraft and ready for the 19th resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for 12:29 p.m. EST today, with an instantaneous launch window. Follow along on NASA Television for the live broadcast, happening now.
The uncrewed Dragon spacecraft will deliver approximately 5,700 pounds of critical supplies, equipment and material for multiple science and research investigations that will take place during Expeditions 61 and 62. Dragon also is carrying the Japanese government’s Hyperspectral Imager Suite (HISUI), a next-generation, hyperspectral Earth imaging system.
Dragon will arrive at the station three days after launch, on Dec. 8. Once it arrives, Expedition 61 Commander Luca Parmitano will capture it. Following capture, ground controllers in Houston will take over to install the spacecraft to the orbiting laboratory’s Earth-facing port on the Harmony module.