NASA TV to announce launch of next space station replenishment mission

NASA TV to announce launch of next space station replenishment mission

Press release
From: Kennedy Space Center
Posted: Wednesday, 28 November 2018

NASA's commercial freight supplier, SpaceX, is targeting 13:38. EST Tuesday, December 4th for the launch of its 16th Replenishment Mission to the International Space Station. Live coverage will begin on Monday, December 3rd on NASA Television and the agency's website with pre-launch events.

The Dragon Shuttle will carry supplies and payloads, including critical equipment, to directly support dozens of more than 250 scientific and research investigations by Space Station crews Expeditions 57 and 58.

Among the research it will bring, the Dragon's unpressurized chest contains the Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3) and the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Survey (GEDI). The RRM3 illustrates the storage and transfer of cryogenic fluid, essential for propulsion and life support systems in space. While Phase 2 of the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM2) has demonstrated the tasks leading to the refilling of refrigerant, the actual transfer of cryogenic fluid into orbit will be performed for the first time with RRM3, using methane liquid. GEDI will perform high-quality laser observations on the Earth's forests and Earth's topography, which are needed to advance understanding of the important processes of the carbon and water cycle, biodiversity and habitat. Installed on the exposed facility of the Japanese Experimentation Module, GEDI will provide the first high resolution observations of the vertical structure of the forest on a global scale.

Dragon will reach its preliminary orbit about 10 minutes after launch. He will then deploy his solar panels and begin a series of carefully choreographed thrusters to get to the laboratory in orbit two days later, on Thursday, December 6th. Upon his arrival, 57 Shipping Commander, Alexander Gerst from ESA (European Space Agency) and Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA will attack at Dragon. NASA's Anne McClain will assist the tandem by monitoring telemetry as Dragon approaches. After the capture of Dragon, the ground controllers will send mission control commands to Houston for the station arm to turn and install the spacecraft at the bottom of the station's Harmony module.

The complete coverage of the mission is as follows. All times are EST:

Monday December 3rd

9:30 am – Science briefing aboard the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The briefing will highlight the following research:
Jill McGuire, project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will discuss RRM3.
Dr. Ralph Dubayah, Principal Investigator at the University of Maryland, and Bryan Blair, Goddard Assistant Principal Investigator, will discuss GEDI.
Dr. Elaine Horn-Ranney, Senior Investigator at Tympanogen, will discuss investigating new wound dressings and how antibiotics can be released directly to wound sites.
Nicole Wagner, LambdaVision, will discuss improving the performance and longevity of a retinal protein-based implant.

Winners of the Marvel Guardians Challenge of the Galaxy Space Station:
Adia Bulawa, Project Leader, Staying Healthy in Space
Sarina Kopf, Project Manager, Aeroponic Agriculture in Microgravity

15:30. – Kennedy Press Conference with the following representatives:
Joel Montelbano, Deputy Director of the ISS Program, Johnson Space Center, NASA
Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of reliability of construction and flights at SpaceX
Kirt Costello, ISS Program Manager, Johnson
Clay Flinn, launching weather officer

Tuesday December 4th

13h – Launch cover starts at 13:38. launching

15:30. – Postlaunch press conference in Kennedy, with the following representatives:
Joel Montelbano, Deputy Director of the ISS Program, Johnson Space Center, NASA
Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of reliability of construction and flights at SpaceX

Thursday 6th December

4:30 pm – Meeting with the dragons, en route to the space station. The catch is expected around 6 o'clock in the morning.
7:30 am – Dragon installation on the nadir port of the station's Harmony module

The Dragon Shuttle will spend about five weeks in connection with the space station. Dragon will remain at the Orbital Outpost until January 13, when the spacecraft will return to Earth with a search and return cargo.

The deadline for filing the application for accreditation by the media for this launch is expired, but you can get more information on media accreditation by sending an email to ksc-media [email protected].

To view the latest pre-launch briefing schedule, NASA events and TV coverage, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/content/spacex-crs-16-briefings-and-events/

Learn more about SpaceX's re-supply mission to the International Space Station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/spacex

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