The private spaceflight
company SpaceX is planning to launch their fourth official unmanned resupply
mission to the International Space Station this week. SpaceX's robotic Dragon
capsule is now expected to launch atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket to the orbiting outpost on Saturday (Sept. 20). Dragon was
initially expected to launch on Friday (Sept. 19), however, rocket preparations
delayed the launch by one day, according to NASA officials.
The launch is now scheduled for Saturday at 1:15 a.m. EDT (0515
Sept. 21 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. If the rocket
launch is postponed, mission controllers have the option to try again the next
day at 1:53 a.m. EDT (0553 Sept. 22 GMT), NASA officials said.
SpaceX's capsule will be packed full of more than 5,000 lbs.
(2,270 kilograms) of material for the crewmembers onboard the station. This
mission — called SpaceX CRS-4 — is expected to deliver the first 3D printer to the space station. It is also
carrying a new Earth-observing instrument, ISS-RapidScat that will help
forecasters on the ground monitor potentially severe weather from space.
SpaceX CRS-4 is the fourth of 12 missions the private
spaceflight company is contracted to fly to the space station with NASA under a
$1.6 billion agreement. The spaceflight company Orbital Sciences Corp. also
penned a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to fly eight cargo missions to the
station using its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft.
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