Watch SpaceX launch 3 tons of cargo to ISS today (Image Credit: Space.com)
SpaceX plans to launch nearly 6,000 pounds (2,700 kilograms) of supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) today (Nov. 4), and you can watch the action live.
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida today at 9:29 p.m. EST (0129 GMT on Tuesday, Nov. 5), kicking off SpaceX‘s 31st robotic resupply mission to the ISS for NASA.
You can watch the liftoff live via NASA; coverage will begin at 9:10 p.m. EST (0110 GMT). Space.com will carry NASA’s feed if the agency makes it available.
The Falcon 9 will send an uncrewed Cargo Dragon capsule to low Earth orbit. If all goes according to plan, the Dragon will meet up with the ISS on Tuesday (Nov. 5) at 10:15 a.m. EST (1415 GMT). You can watch the rendezvous live via NASA, beginning at 8:45 a.m. EST (1245 GMT).
“In addition to food, supplies, and equipment for the crew, Dragon will deliver several new experiments, including the Coronal Diagnostic Experiment, to examine solar wind and how it forms,” NASA officials wrote in a mission preview.
“Dragon also delivers Antarctic moss to observe the combined effects of cosmic radiation and microgravity on plants,” they added. “Other investigations aboard include a device to test cold welding of metals in microgravity, and an investigation that studies how space impacts different materials.”
SpaceX has been launching operational cargo missions to the ISS for NASA since 2012.
Elon Musk‘s company also holds a NASA contract to fly astronauts to and from the orbiting lab, which it fulfills using the Falcon 9 and a crewed version of the Dragon capsule. SpaceX is in the middle of its ninth contracted astronaut mission, which launched on Sept. 28.
Tonight’s cargo liftoff continues a very busy year for SpaceX. The company has launched more than 100 missions already in 2024, the majority of them dedicated to building out its Starlink internet megaconstellation.