NASA Prepares for SpaceX Commercial Resupply Mission to International Space Station June 3 From KSC
By NASA information center // May 6, 2023
Launch Set from Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
(NASA) – Liftoff of the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket is targeted no earlier than 12:34 p.m. EDT on June 3 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
SpaceX’s Dragon will deliver new science investigations, food, supplies, and equipment for the international crew, including the next pair of IROSAs (International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays).
These solar panels, which roll out using stored kinetic energy, will expand the energy-production capabilities of the space station. This will be the third set launching in the SpaceX Dragon’s trunk, and once installed, will help provide a 20% to 30% increase in power for space station research and operations.
To advance climate monitoring efforts, students from York University in Toronto, Ontario, are providing a camera that will observe snow and ice coverage in northern Canada.
Other investigations launched include Genes in Space-10, a student-designed DNA experiment sponsored by ISS National Laboratory, and the next generation of seeds for NASA’s Plant Habitat-03, which studies plant adaptation to the space environment.
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, 266 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft have 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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