After seven missions to the International Space Station, including six official resupply missions for NASA, SpaceX is preparing to launch its seventh Commercial Resupply (CRS) mission to the orbiting lab.
SpaceX's CRS-7 mission will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
If all goes as planned, Dragon will arrive at the station two days after lifting off. Dragon is expected to return to Earth five weeks later for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California.
[b]Background and purpose[/b]
CRS-7 (SpX-7) is the seventh of at least 12 missions that SpaceX will fly under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.
In December 2008, NASA announced that SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft had been selected to resupply the space station after the end of the shuttle program in 2011. Under the CRS contract, SpaceX has restored an American capability to deliver and return significant amounts of cargo, including live plants and animals, to and from the orbiting laboratory.
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[b]Cargo[/b]
Dragon is filled with more than 4,000 pounds (1,815 kg) of supplies and payloads, including the critical materials needed to directly support over 30 student research investigations and more than 35 of approximately 250 science and research investigations that will occur during Expeditions 44 and 45.
Science payloads will offer new insight to combustion in microgravity, perform the first space-based observations of meteors entering Earth’s atmosphere, continue solving potential crew health risks and make new strides towards being able to grow food in space.
Dragon also will use its unpressurized trunk to deliver the first of two International Docking Adapters (IDA) to enable future commercial crew vehicles to dock to the station.
Dragon will return with about 1,400 pounds (635 kg) of cargo, which includes crew supplies, hardware and computer resources, science experiments, space station hardware, and trash.