SpaceX Dragon all set for its 11th resupply mission to space station

New Delhi: SpaceX, NASA commercial cargo provider, is all set to launch its Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida as weather looks mostly favorable for Thusday's takeoff.

The 230-foot-tall SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a Dragon spacecraft, is scheduled to lift off at 5:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 1 (3.25 a.m Friday India time) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the US space agency said.

Launch coverage will begin on NASA Television and the agency’s website at 5:15 p.m., followed by the post-launch news conference at 7:30 p.m, the US space agency added.

NASA says the Dragon craft is carrying almost 6,000 pounds of science research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory in support of Expedition 52 and 53 crew members.

This is the company's 11th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station (ISS), and the sixth SpaceX rocket launch from the historic pad.

The flight will deliver investigations and facilities that study neutron stars, osteoporosis, solar panels, tools for Earth-observation, and more.

Upon arrival at the space station, US astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer will grapple the Dragon using the station's 57-foot-long robotic arm.

Ground commands then will be sent from mission control for the station's arm to rotate and install the Dragon capsule to the station's Harmony module.

The Expedition 51 crew will unpack the Dragon and begin working with the experiments.

The Dragon spacecraft will remain at the space station until approximately July 2. The spacecraft will then return to Earth with research and return cargo in a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Baja California.

(With IANS inputs)