NASA will launch the SpaceX cargo capsule to the International Space Station on August 28 | international | News

On Saturday, August 28, NASA has scheduled the next resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) with a private SpaceX Dragon capsule.

The Falcon 9 rocket, with the cargo capsule at its zenith, will take off at 3.37 a.m. (7.37 GMT) that day from a platform at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida (USA), according to the agency. .

What will be the orbiting laboratory’s twenty-third commercial resupply mission will transport a variety of scientific equipment and supplies to the International Space Station.

This will allow NASA to conduct, among other things, a “study on the prevention and treatment of bone density loss, an investigation that will test diagnostic devices that can detect and mitigate vision disorders,” he explained on his blog.

The capsule will also carry materials such as “concrete, fiberglass composites and materials that can provide radiation protection to investigate how they respond to the harsh environment of space.”

The Dragon cargo will take off after NASA and Boeing announced the indefinite suspension of the second test mission of the Starliner capsule, after discovering, shortly before its take-off for the International Space Station, scheduled for the beginning of this month, a problem with 13 of its valves. payment system.

After studying the problem, the engineers decided to dismantle the capsule of the Atlas V rocket to transfer it to a ship where they would open four of those fuses that remained closed, and perform a “deep analysis” of the problem. .

The suspension of the mission, called OFT-2, was a severe setback for Boeing, which faced high expectations about this second unmanned capsule test flight, after a failed mission in 2019.

Boeing and SpaceX have multi-million dollar contracts with NASA to handle the transportation of astronauts and equipment to the space station from US soil.

SpaceX has already conducted two manned missions to the International Space Station, to which testing with astronauts has been added, as well as various cargo in its Dragon capsules. (I)