SpaceX is finally launching the commercial resupply service mission to the ISS.
Space enthusiasts around the world will be able to watch the live broadcast of SpaceX's launch of a cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday evening, July 14.
Space reports that the launch of a robotic SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule atop a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to take place at 8:44 p.m. eastern time from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This resupply mission marks a significant achievement for both NASA and SpaceX. This is because this mission will be the 25th contracted cargo resupply mission to the orbiting laboratory.
This is also the reason why this mission is named CRS-25, Commercial Resupply Services 25. The cargo will bring the usual supplies needed in the ISS and scientific hardware that will be used in the lab to conduct further experiments.
SpaceX Dragon Capsule
SpaceX's lift off of Falcon 9 this Thursday has been a long time coming. SpaceX encountered problems and challenges that hampered the launch of the resupply mission back to space.
Due to the challenges that kept arising, this mission has been delayed for quite some time now.
At the beginning of this month, NASA and SpaceX made the announcement that they would not be proceeding with the launch that was scheduled for June 10.
The reason for this is that while the spacecraft was being fueled, abnormally high readings of hydrazine were found. Hydrazine is the propellant that the Dragon's Draco thrusters use.
For that reason, the mission was decided to be put on hold and later announced that the launch was pushed back to a later date no sooner than June 28 and later until no earlier than July 11.
This is to pave the way for an investigation to be conducted as to how and why the abnormal hydrazine vapor readings were detected within the Draco system.
After a thorough investigation and down time for both the space rocket and the capsule, the SpaceX team and the NASA officials scheduled the new launch date for CRS-25 to be on July 14.
According to SpaceX, "CRS-25 will be the third trip to the ISS for this particular Dragon. The capsule also hauled cargo to the orbiting lab in December 2020 and August 2021."
According to the recorded tally of Elon Musk's space company, they have already completed 29 orbital missions in 2022 alone. 17 of which were used to place large batches of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites into low Earth orbit.
SpaceX CRS-25 Launch: Where to Watch?
SpaceX's CRS-25 is the fifth flight of the first stage booster that will be used to support this mission. In the past, it has been used to support CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, and Crew-4.
After the stages have been separated, the Falcon 9 will make its landing on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which is located in the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX stated, "The Dragon supporting this mission previously supported CRS-21 and CRS-23. Approximately twelve minutes after liftoff, Dragon will separate from Falcon 9's second stage and dock to the space station on Saturday, July 16 at 11:20 a.m. ET, 15:20 UTC."
About twenty minutes before the actual launch, the live broadcast of this mission will begin. NASA will provide live coverage of the event, during which the first stage of the Falcon 9 will attempt to land on a SpaceX drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean shortly after liftoff.
The coverage will start at 8:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (0015 GMT). Viewers can also watch it here on SpaceX's official YouTube channel. As of writing, this live coverage will begin in 11 hours.
