Watch On
A Dragon is closing the gap between itself and its destination after a more than two-day-long orbital pursuit.
SpaceX’s cargo Dragon, flying the CRS-35 (35th Commercial Resupply Services) mission for NASA, is scheduled to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) this morning (Oct. 15), delivering fresh food, long-term provisions, research and hardware to the orbital lab and its crew.
Coverage of Dragon’s arrival at the ISS will begin at 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT), with docking scheduled for approximately 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT). A livestream of the rendezvous will be available here and on Space.com’s homepage, courtesy of NASA.
CRS-35 launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the company’s pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday (Oct. 13). Liftoff occurred at 6:35 a.m. EDT (1035 GMT), and the Falcon 9’s upper stage deployed the Dragon in low Earth orbit (LEO) a short 10 minutes later. Thanks to the trajectory of the space station’s orbit and the near-dawn hour of the launch, the Falcon 9’s ascent to orbit was viewed by millions up and down the U.S. East Coast, who witnessed a rare “space jellyfish” phenomenon from the rocket’s exhaust plume.
The supplies headed to the ISS on CRS-35 will largely support its newest astronaut inhabitants, the members of SpaceX’s Crew-13 mission for NASA. The four-person crew arrived aboard the ISS on Oct. 1, relieving the members of Crew-12, who returned to Earth a week later.
Crew-12 astronauts will address the media this afternoon (Oct. 15) to discuss their mission and their return after nearly eight months on orbit. A live broadcast of that event will also be available to stream on Space.com’s homepage beginning at 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT).
Cargo Dragon’s nominal orbital insertion on Tuesday placed it on course to catch up with the ISS after a 51-hour LEO chase. After rendezvous this morning, Dragon will autonomously dock to the zenith port on the station’s Harmony module. It will remain docked with the ISS for about a month before being packed with supplies, waste and research for its return, safe splashdown and recovery on Earth.
