NASA Sets Pre-Launch Briefings for SpaceX’s CRS-5 Mission

SpaceX Dragon freighter at ISS. (Credit: NASA)

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — The fifth SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract is scheduled to launch at 2:31 p.m. EST Tuesday, Dec. 16, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA Television coverage of the launch begins at 1:15 p.m.

NASA will host a series of prelaunch news conferences Monday, Dec. 15 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, airing at 10 a.m., will 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, at 12:30 p.m., will 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


• Kathy Winters with the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida

The final briefing of the day, at 2 p.m., will 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


• Michael Roberts, senior research pathway manager at the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, headquartered in Melbourne, Florida


• Cheryl Nickerson, Micro-5 principal investigator at Arizona State University


• Samuel Durrance, NR-SABOL principal investigator at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne

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://ift.tt/IWOEVX

For NASA TV schedule and video streaming information, visit:

http://ift.tt/Id6pTj

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://ift.tt/wtXYrM