Apr 25 2018
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-066 Media Invited to Orbital ATK Cargo Launch from Virginia
Media accreditation now is open for the launch of Orbital ATK’s ninth contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, currently targeted for no earlier than 5:04 a.m. EDT May 20.
The company’s Cygnus spacecraft will launch on an Antares launch vehicle from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
To attend prelaunch events and the launch, media must send an accreditation request to Keith Koehler at keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov. The deadline for international media is May 2. Media who are U.S. citizens must apply by May 14.
For questions about accreditation or additional information, contact Koehler by email or at 757-824-1579.
Cargo resupply by U.S. companies ensures a national capability to deliver critical science research to the space station, significantly increasing NASA's ability to conduct new science investigations in the world’s only microgravity laboratory.
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-068 US Cargo Spaceship Set for Departure from International Space Station
After delivering more than 5,800 pounds of science investigations and cargo for NASA, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is set to depart the International Space Station on Wednesday, May 2. NASA Television and the agency’s website will provide live coverage of Dragon's departure beginning at 10 a.m. EDT.
Flight controllers on Earth will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach the Dragon capsule, which arrived April 4, from the Earth-facing side of the station's Harmony module. After maneuvering Dragon into place, they will give the command to release the spacecraft as Expedition 55 Flight Engineer Scott Tingle of NASA monitors its departure at 10:22 a.m.
Dragon’s thrusters will be fired to move the spacecraft a safe distance from the station before SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, command its deorbit burn. The capsule will splash down about 4:02 p.m. in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery forces will retrieve the capsule and more than 4,000 pounds of cargo, including science samples from human and animal research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities. The deorbit burn and splashdown will not be broadcast on NASA TV.
NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization that manages research conducted aboard the station’s U.S. National Laboratory, will receive time-sensitive samples and begin working with researchers to process and distribute them within 48 hours of splashdown. In the event of adverse weather conditions in the splashdown zone in the Pacific, the departure and splashdown will occur on the backup date of May 5.
Dragon is the only space station resupply spacecraft able to return to Earth intact. SpaceX launched its 14th NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission to the station April 2 on a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
