Next Antares launch scheduled for August 1

NASA and Northrop Grumman are targeting liftoff of the company’s Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft, named the S.S. Laurel Clark, no earlier than 8:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Aug. 1, from theid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad 0A at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia

Following launch, Cygnus will be grappled by the space station’s Canadarm2 no earlier than Friday, Aug. 4, and berthed to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port for cargo unloading by the Expedition 69 crew.

Each resupply mission to the station delivers scientific investigations in the areas of biology and biotechnology, Earth and space science, physical sciences, and technology development and demonstrations.

Highlights of space station research aboard this Cygnus are:

• The final iteration of a series of flammability experiments
• A new potable water dispenserthat provides hot water and improved sanitization
• Neural cellsthat will be cultured into 3D cell models for gene therapy testing
• A probethat measures plasma contents of the upper atmosphere
• A memory cardthat contains creative works from students around the world

Cargo resupply from U.S. companies ensures a national capability to deliver critical scientific research to the space station, significantly increasing NASA’s ability to conduct new investigations aboard humanity’s laboratory in space.