NASA Cargo Headed for ISS Aboard Dragon Spacecraft
Nearly 2.5 tons of NASA science investigations and cargo are on the way to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 3:25 p.m. EDT.
At the time of launch, the space station was traveling at an altitude of 260 miles over southeastern Turkey.
The SpaceX-3 mission is the company's third cargo delivery flight to the station through a $1.6 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract. Dragon's cargo will support more than 150 experiments to be conducted by the crews of ISS Expeditions 39 and 40.
On its way to the ISS, SpaceX's Falcon rocket jettisoned five small research satellites known as CubeSats that will perform a variety of technology demonstrations. The small satellites are part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ElaNa, mission, and involved more than 120 students in their design, development and construction.
Dragon will be grappled at 7:14 a.m. on Sunday, April 20 by Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. He will use the space station's robotic arm to take hold of the spacecraft. NASA's Rick Mastracchio will support Wakata in a backup position. Dragon is scheduled to depart the space station May 18 for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California, bringing with it nearly 3,500 pounds of science, hardware, crew supplies and spacewalk tools from the space station.