NASA Updates Pre-Launch Briefings for Upcoming Resupply Mission to Space Station

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Dec 29, 2014, 05:23 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The fifth SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract now is scheduled to launch about 6:18 a.m. EST Tuesday, Jan. 6, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA Television coverage of the launch begins at 5 a.m.

The new launch date will provide SpaceX engineers time to investigate further issues that arose from a static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 16, and will ensure proper sun angles for thermal and operational conditions to berth Dragon.

The prelaunch news conferences also have moved to Monday, Jan. 5, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. All briefings, which are subject to a change in time, will air live on NASA TV and the agency's website.

The first briefing of the day will air at noon and cover the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) Earth science instrument headed to the space station. Participants for this briefing will be:

Julie Robinson, ISS Program chief scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston
Colleen Hartman, deputy director for science at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
Robert J. Swap, program scientist with the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
Matthew McGill, CATS principal investigator at Goddard

The second briefing will air at 1:30 p.m. and cover some of the numerous science investigations headed to the space station. Participants for the science briefing will be:

Julie Robinson, NASA's ISS Program chief scientist
Kenneth Shields, director of operations and education for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space
Cheryl Nickerson, Micro-5 principal investigator at Arizona State University
Samuel Durrance, NR-SABOL principal investigator at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne

The final briefing will air at 4 p.m. and provide up-to-date information about the launch. Participants for the prelaunch briefing will be:

Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS Program manager
Hans Koenigsmann, vice president for Mission Assurance at SpaceX
Maj. Perry Sweat, U.S. Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida

An on-time launch on Jan. 6 will result in the Dragon spacecraft arriving at the space station on Thursday, Jan. 8. Expedition 42 Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore of NASA will use the station's 57.7-foot robotic arm to reach out and capture Dragon at approximately 6 a.m. Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency will support Wilmore as they operate from the station's cupola. NASA TV coverage of grapple will begin at 4:30 a.m. Coverage of Dragon's installation to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module will begin at 8:15 a.m.

Reporters who wish to participate by telephone must call Kennedy's newsroom at 321-867-2468 no later than 15 minutes before the start of each briefing. Those following along on social media may ask questions using the hashtag #askNASA.

For more information about media accreditation at Kennedy, contact Jennifer Horner at 321-867-6598 or [email protected].

For an updated schedule of prelaunch briefings, events and NASA TV coverage, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/1FrjDEO

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

http://www.nasa.gov/spacex

For NASA TV schedule and video streaming information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

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SOURCE NASA