SpaceX will launch its Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station this evening (May 12), and you can watch the action live.
The launch will kick off the CRS-34 mission, so named because it will be the 34th flight SpaceX conducts for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services program.
Dragon is loaded up with about 6,500 pounds (2,950 kilograms) of supplies, hardware and scientific experiments for CRS-34. Among the scientific gear are “a project to determine how well Earth-based simulators mimic microgravity conditions, a bone scaffold made from wood that could produce new treatments for fragile bone conditions like osteoporosis, and equipment to evaluate how red blood cells and the spleen change in space to protect future astronauts,” NASA officials wrote in a CRS-34 media advisory.
This stuff will get to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday (May 14) around 9:50 a.m. EDT (1350 GMT), when Dragon docks autonomously to the forward port of the orbiting lab’s Harmony module. You can watch this rendezvous live as well when the time comes.
CRS-34 will be the sixth spaceflight for this particular Dragon capsule — a new record for a SpaceX cargo craft. One of the company’s astronaut-carrying Crew Dragon capsules, named Endeavour, also has six missions under its belt.
The capsule will stay attached to the ISS for just a month, coming back down to Earth in mid-June “with time-sensitive research and cargo, ahead of splashing down off the coast of California,” NASA officials wrote.
Dragon is the only ISS resupply ship that can haul material down to Earth. The other three operational robotic freighters — Japan’s HTV-X, Russia’s Progress and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus — are all designed to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere when their time in orbit is up.
If all goes according to plan today, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth for a landing at Cape Canaveral a little less than eight minutes after liftoff. It will be the sixth liftoff and touchdown for this particular booster, according to SpaceX.
Dragon will separate from the rocket’s upper stage about 9.5 minutes after launch and then begin chasing down the ISS.