This week a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will take off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and head to the International Space Station (ISS) to deliver supplies and research to the crew there. The launch is scheduled for this Thursday, November 9, after being rescheduled from earlier in the week to allow time for additional prelaunch testing.
If you want to watch the launch and docking of the SpaceX Dragon, NASA will be live-streaming those two events via its NASA TV channel, and we have details on how to watch below.
What to expect from the launch
It will be the 29th commercial resupply mission flown by SpaceX, and it will use a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to carry 6,500 pounds of cargo to the ISS. The cargo will include supplies for the crew, as well as new hardware for the station and a variety of scientific research experiments.
Some of the highlights include a NASA laser communications test called ILLUMA-T (Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low-Earth-Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal) and a piece of hardware called LCRD (Laser Communications Relay Demonstration), which are part of the NASA . Ongoing trials in user of laser communication.
The unmanned spacecraft will launch on Thursday and travel to the station for several days, arriving on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 11. It will dock with the station’s Harmony module and will remain docked to the station for about a month. It will then be loaded with full research experiments and return to Earth, again without the crew, to splash down off the coast of Florida.
How to watch the launch
Coverage of the launch will begin on Thursday, November 9 at 8 p.m. ET (5:28 p.m. PT), with launch of the spacecraft scheduled for 8:28 p.m. ET (5:28 p.m. PT). Coverage of the spacecraft’s docking with the ISS will begin on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 3:45 a.m. ET (12:45 a.m. PT), with docking scheduled for 5:21 a.m. ET (2:21 a.m. PT).
You can watch using the video embedded above or by visiting NASA’s YouTube page for the event.