Sept 20, 2012

George H Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 george h diller@nasa gov

Trent J Perrotto Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0321 trent j perrotto@nasa gov

Katherine Nelson SpaceX, Hawthorne, Calif 310-363-6447 katherine nelson@spacex com

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-189

SPACEX, NASA TARGET OCT 7 LAUNCH FOR FIRST CONTRACTED U S CARGO RESUPPLY MISSION TO SPACE STATION; MEDIA ACCREDITATION OPEN

HOUSTON -- NASA managers, Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) officials and international partner representatives Thursday announced Sunday, Oct 7, as the target launch date for the first contracted cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract

International Space Station Program managers confirmed the status and readiness of the Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon cargo spacecraft for the SpaceX CRS-1 mission, as well as the space station's readiness to receive Dragon

Launch is scheduled for 8:34 p m EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida A backup launch opportunity is available on Oct 8

Media accreditation to view the launch now is open International media without U S citizenship must apply for credentials to cover the prelaunch and launch activities by Wednesday, Sept 26 For U S media, the deadline to apply is Wednesday, Oct 3

Questions about accreditation may be directed to the Public Affairs Office at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 321-867-2468 All media accreditation requests must be submitted online at:

https://media ksc nasa gov

The launch of the Dragon spacecraft will be the first of 12 contracted flights by SpaceX to resupply the space station and marks the second trip by a Dragon to the station, following a successful demonstration mission in May SpaceX services under the CRS contract will restore an American capability to deliver and return significant amounts of cargo, including science experiments, to the orbiting laboratory -- a feat not achievable since the retirement of the space shuttle

The Dragon will be filled with about 1,000 pounds of supplies This includes critical materials to support the 166 investigations planned for the station's Expedition 33 crew, including 63 new investigations The Dragon will return about 734 pounds of scientific materials, including results from human research, biotechnology, materials and educational experiments, as well as about 504 pounds of space station hardware

Materials being launched on Dragon will support experiments in plant cell biology, human biotechnology and various materials technology demonstrations, among others One experiment, called Micro 6, will examine the effects of microgravity on the opportunistic yeast Candida albicans, which is present on all humans Another experiment, called Resist Tubule, will evaluate how microgravity affects the growth of cell walls in a plant called Arabidopsis About 50 percent of the energy expended by terrestrial-bound plants is dedicated to structural support to overcome gravity Understanding how the genes that control this energy expenditure operate in microgravity could have implications for future genetically modified plants and food supply Both Micro 6 and Resist Tubule will return with the Dragon at the end of its mission

Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA and Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will use a robot arm to grapple the Dragon following its rendezvous with the station on Wednesday, Oct 10 They will attach the Dragon to the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module for a few weeks while crew members unload cargo and load experiment samples for return to Earth

Dragon is scheduled to return in late October for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California

While NASA works with U S industry partners to develop commercial spaceflight capabilities, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system

For information about the International Space Station, research in low Earth orbit, NASA's commercial space programs and the future of American spaceflight, visit:

http://www nasa gov/exploration

For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:

http://www nasa gov/ntv

For more information about SpaceX, visit:

http://www spacex com

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: ksc-subscribe@newsletters nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: ksc-unsubscribe@newsletters nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/STS_ISS_STATUS/example/example com/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:[list_owner_email]>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

[physical_address]