NASA Invites Media to Upcoming Space Station Cargo Launch

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Oct 26, 2017, 16:59 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Media accreditation is open for launch of the next SpaceX commercial cargo resupply services mission to the International Space Station, currently targeted for no earlier than December.

The uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft, which was flown on SpaceX's sixth commercial resupply mission to station for NASA, will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch will be the first this year from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida.

Media prelaunch and launch activities will take place at CCAFS and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which is adjacent to CCAFS. Credentialing deadlines are as follows:

International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, for access to CCAFS or 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19, for access to Kennedy media activities only.
U.S. media must apply by 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26.

All media accreditation requests should be submitted online at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov/

For questions about accreditation, please email: [email protected]. For other questions or additional information contact Kennedy's newsroom at 321-867-2468.

This is the 13th SpaceX mission under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract. In addition to supplies and equipment, Dragon will deliver several science investigations to the space station, including a NASA instrument called Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor, or TSIS-1, which will measure the Sun's energy input to Earth, and a fiber optic payload. Also manifested on this flight is an investigation sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space known as Biorasis – Glucose Biosensor, which seeks to improve the accuracy of a wireless medically implantable continuous glucose biosensor for day-to-day diabetes management.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has been occupied continuously since November 2000. In that time, more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft have visited the orbiting laboratory. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to Mars.

For launch countdown coverage, NASA's launch blog, and more information about the mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacex

SOURCE NASA