KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – SpaceX is prepping for its 28th cargo launch to the International Space Station for NASA on Saturday, carrying a variety of science, supplies and hardware to complete the station’s major power upgrade.
A SpaceX Cargo Dragon is scheduled to launch at 12:35 p.m. Saturday. If the launch goes as planned, Dragon will dock at the ISS on Monday morning, where the astronauts living on the station will be waiting to receive the spacecraft.
First, the Falcon 9 rocket must get those supplies off the planet. Saturday’s weather for liftoff is only 30% favorable, according to the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron, due to Tropical Storm Arlene in the Gulf of Mexico sending frequent showers and storms across the Florida Peninsula through the weekend.
Arlene, the first named storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, is forecast to dissipate this weekend, but it will send plenty of rain and thunderstorms across Florida.
The primary launch weather concerns will be rain, cumulus cloud cover and possible lightning. If the launch is scrubbed, the forecast for Sunday’s backup opportunity looks the same.
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A pair of International Space Station rollout solar arrays or iROSAs made by Redwire Space will be among the goods launched to the International Space Station.
The two arrays are the third set over two years launched by SpaceX and will be installed outside the orbiting laboratory to complete the ongoing upgrade to the station’s power grid. The solar arrays ride up to the ISS in the trunk of the Dragon spacecraft and then unfurl in space like rolled-out carpets.
NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Huburg will spacewalk on June 9 to install one of the new solar arrays.
NASA astronauts Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada installed the second pair of arrays in December.
After the final iROSA is installed during a spacewalk later this year, the solar arrays will help power the ISS through 2030.