New Delhi: US space agency NASA and Elon Musk-run SpaceX are set to launch a cargo mission with 8,200 pounds (3,719.45 kg) of supplies, scientific investigations, and equipment to the International Space Station (ISS) Sunday.
The commercial supplies will be carried to the orbiting lab by Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft (NG-21) onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The launch opportunity is available on Sunday at 11.02 a.m. (ET). It is the 21st commercial resupply mission by Northrop Grumman for NASA.
The scientific experiments aboard Cygnus spacecraft include “tests of water recovery technology, a process to produce stem cells in microgravity, studies of the effects of spaceflight on microorganism DNA, liver tissue growth, and live science demonstrations for students”.
In addition, the NG-21 will also carry two tiny CubeSats, as part of NASA’s ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) programme. It will be deployed from the ISS after the Cygnus docks on August 5.
The NG-21 has been named the S.S. Richard “Dick” Scobee, after the NASA astronaut who commanded the ill-fated STS-51-L mission of the space shuttle Challenger.
Shortly after liftoff January 28, 1986, Challenger exploded, claiming the lives of Scobee and his six crewmates.
The Cygnus will be docked using the station’s robotic arm, and installed on the Unity module’s Earth-facing port on the ISS.
The spacecraft will spend almost six months connected to the orbiting laboratory before departing in January 2025.
The orbiting lab currently houses 7 persons — five from Expedition 71 — Oleg Kononenko, Tracy Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Nikolai Chub, and Alexander Grebenkin; and two Starliner crew — Indian-origin, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore.