NASA to Highlight Climate Research on Cargo Launch, Sets TV Coverage

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and uncrewed Dragon spacecraft stand ready for liftoff at Kennedy's Launch Complex 39A for the company's 24th cargo resupply services mission.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:07 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, carrying the Dragon spacecraft on its journey to the International Space Station for SpaceX’s 24th commercial resupply services mission. Photo credit: SpaceX

Editor’s Note: As of Monday, June 6, NASA and SpaceX are no longer targeting Friday, June 10, for launch, and these events are not current. A new advisory will be provided later. Follow the latest mission updates on the agency’s International Space Station blog.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting 10:22 a.m. EDT Friday, June 10, to launch the agency’s next investigation to monitor climate change to the International Space Station. Flying aboard SpaceX’s 25th commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory is NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT).

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the international crew, including a new climate research investigation.

Live coverage will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, with prelaunch events starting Thursday, June 9.

Dragon will carry more than 4,500 pounds of cargo, including a variety of NASA investigations like EMIT, which will identify the composition of mineral dust from Earth’s arid regions and analyze dust carried through the atmosphere from deserts to see what effects it has on the planet, further advancing NASA’s data contributions to monitoring climate change.

To read the full advisory, click here.

Media Accreditation Now Open for SpaceX’s 25th Cargo Launch to Station

Media accreditation is now open for SpaceX’s 25th cargo resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station. Liftoff of the cargo Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket is targeted for 11:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, June 7, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the international crew, including a study of immune aging and potential for reversing those effects. It also will carry an investigation from a team of students at Stanford University that will test the process of creating biopolymer soil composite, a concrete alternative, in microgravity.

Media prelaunch and launch activities will take place at Kennedy. International media must apply by Monday, May 9, and U.S. media must apply by Thursday, May 19. Media wishing to take part in person must apply for credentials at https://media.ksc.nasa.gov.

Other studies launching include an investigation looking at the behavior of sutures and wound healing in microgravity, as well as one studying how soil microorganisms function in space. Dragon’s external cargo “trunk” will carry the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument and a Battery Charge/Discharge Unit as part of an investigation led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The EMIT instrument will be installed on the exterior of the space station to map mineral dust blown into the air on Earth to advance our understanding of dust’s effects throughout the Earth system and to human populations now and in the future.

For a link to the full media advisory, click here.