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NASA TV to Air U.S. Cargo Ship Departure from Space StationWASHINGTON, April 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Filled with more than 4,000 pounds of valuable scientific experiments and other cargo, a SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft is set to leave the International Space Station Monday, April 6. NASA Television and the agency's website will broadcast its departure live beginning at 9:30 a.m. EDT. Robotic flight controllers at mission control in Houston will issue commands at 9:52 a.m. to release Dragon using the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm. Expedition 62 Flight Engineer Drew Morgan of NASA will back up the ground controllers and monitor Dragon's systems as it departs the orbital laboratory. Dragon will fire its thrusters to move a safe distance from the station, then execute a deorbit burn as it heads for a parachute-assisted splashdown around 3:40 p.m. in the Pacific Ocean, southwest of Long Beach, California. The splashdown will not air on NASA TV. Dragon launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket March 6 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and arrived at the space station three days later. Some of the scientific investigations Dragon will return to Earth include: Generating a nutritional meal Toward printing human organs in space Helping the heart Biofilm festival These are just a few of the hundreds of investigations providing opportunities for U.S. government agencies, private industry and academic and research institutions to conduct microgravity research that leads to new technologies, medical treatments and products that improve life on Earth. Conducting science aboard the orbiting laboratory will help us learn how to keep astronauts healthy during long-duration space travel and demonstrate technologies for future human and robotic exploration beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars. For almost 20 years, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space. As a global endeavor, 239 people from 19 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 2,800 research investigations from researchers in 108 countries. Get breaking news, images and features from the space station on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-tv-to-air-us-cargo-ship-departure-from-space-station-301034209.html SOURCE NASA |