(AGENPARL) – lun 26 giugno 2023 June 26, 2023 
MEDIA ADVISORY M23-080
*NASA to Provide Coverage as Dragon Departs Station with Science*
spacex_dragon_june_29.jpg
The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft approaches the International Space Station
for an automated docking less than a day after launching from NASA's Kennedy
Space Center in Florida loaded with over 7,000 pounds of science experiments,
station hardware, and crew supplies. The last rays of an orbital sunset
illuminate the cloud tops as both spacecraft were orbiting 259 miles above
the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan.
*/Credits: NASA/*
NASA is set to receive scientific research samples and hardware as a SpaceX
Dragon cargo resupply spacecraft departs the International Space Station on
Thursday, June 29.
The agency will provide live coverage of Dragon’s undocking and departure
starting at 11:45 a.m. EDT on NASA Television, the NASA app [1], and online.
Watch here:
*https://www.nasa.gov/live [2]*
Ground controllers at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, will command Dragon to
undock from the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module and fire
its thrusters to move a safe distance away from the station. Undock is
scheduled for 12:05 p.m.
After re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will make a
parachute-assisted splashdown about 2:30 a.m. Friday, June 30, off the coast
of Florida. NASA will not broadcast the splashdown, but updates will be
posted on the agency's space station [3] blog.
Dragon will carry back to Earth over 3,600 pounds of supplies and scientific
experiments designed to take advantage of the space station’s microgravity
environment. Splashing down off the coast of Florida enables quick
transportation of the experiments to NASA’s Space Station Processing
Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, allowing researchers to collect
data with minimal sample exposure to Earth’s gravity.
Scientific hardware and samples returning on the mission include the GRIP –
Dexterous Manipulation in Microgravity [4] chair used in the ESA (European
Space Agency)-sponsored neurology experiments GRIP and GRASP (Gravitational
References for Sensimotor Performance: Reaching and Grasping). GRIP studies
how microgravity affects the manipulation of objects, while GRASP provides
further insight into how the central nervous system adapts to the
microgravity environment. The experiments have been on the space station
almost six years, and the final in-orbit tests were completed in early 2023.
Samples from BioNutrients-2 [5], Monoclonal Antibodies [6], and Myotones [7]
investigations also are returning to Earth for scientific analysis.
Dragon arrived at the station June 6 as SpaceX’s 28th Commercial Resupply
Services [8] mission for NASA, delivering more than 7,000 pounds of research
investigations, crew supplies, and station hardware, including two IROSAs
[9], or International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays. The spacecraft was
launched June 5 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA
Kennedy.
-end-
*Press Contacts*
Lora Bleacher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
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[1] https://www.nasa.gov/nasaapp
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/live
[3] https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/
[4] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1188
[5] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8521
[6] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8928
[7] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7573
[8] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html
[9] https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/Rolling_Out_a_Path_to_Future_Space_Travel