Launch Day for Research and Cargo Flight

Good morning from Kennedy Space Center in Florida where a research equipment-and-cargo-laden Dragon spacecraft is being readied to head off the Earth so International Space Station astronauts can conduct science for the Earth as well as the Journey to Mars. Launch time today is 4:33 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station adjacent to Kennedy. The launch window is instantaneous for the Falcon 9 rocket that will loft the Dragon into space on course for the station. Both the rocket and spacecraft are products of SpaceX.

The weather remains the primary concern for today with the most recent report calling for a 60 percent chance of acceptable conditions at launch time. Our continuous countdown coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. EDT, with NASA TV’s commentary beginning at the same time. 

Meteorologists predict a 60 percent chance of acceptable conditions Monday for the launch of the CRS-6 mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon spacecraft carrying experiments, equipment and supplies to the International Space Station where astronauts will use the materials to continue their cutting edge research off the Earth, for the Earth.

This is the sixth SpaceX commercial resupply services mission and the seventh trip by a Dragon spacecraft to the station. Dragon is filled with more than 4,300 pounds of supplies and payloads, including critical materials to support science and research investigations that will occur during Expeditions 43 and 44. After about five weeks at the space station, Dragon will return to Earth filled with cargo including crew supplies, hardware and computer resources, science experiments, and space station hardware.