NASA Targeting Nov. 18 for SpaceX’s 26th Resupply Launch to International Space Station
By NASA information center // October 26, 2022
NASA & SPACE NEWS
(NASA) – SpaceX’s 26th commercial resupply mission launch for NASA to the International Space Station is targeted no earlier than Friday, Nov. 18, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
SpaceX’s Dragon will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the international crew, including the next pair of ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs).
It also will carry a study to grow dwarf tomatoes to help create a continuous fresh-food production system in space, as well as an experiment that tests an on-demand method to create specific quantities of key nutrients.
Other studies launching include a test of a microscope with potential deep space applications and Engineered Heart Tissues-2 (EHT-2), a study of cardiac health.
This experiment builds on an investigation of 3D cultures aboard the space station in 2020.
The previous experiment detected changes at the cellular and tissue level that could provide an early indication of the development of cardiac disease. This study tests whether new therapies could prevent these negative effects from occurring.
Cargo resupply by U.S. companies significantly increases NASA’s ability to conduct more investigations aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Those investigations lead to new technologies, medical treatments, and products that improve life on Earth. Other U.S. government agencies, private industry, and academic and research institutions can also conduct microgravity research through our partnership with the ISS National Laboratory.
Humans have occupied the space station continuously since November 2000. In that time, 263 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft visited the orbital outpost.
It remains the springboard to NASA’s next great leap in exploration, including future missions to the Moon under Artemis and, ultimately, human exploration of Mars.
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