The fifth SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract is scheduled to launch at 2:31 p.m. EST Tuesday, Dec. 16, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA Television coverage of the launch begins at 1:15 p.m.

NASA will host a series of prelaunch news conferences Monday, Dec. 15 at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. All briefings, which are subject to a change in time, will air live on NASA TV and the agency's website.

The first briefing, airing at 10 a.m., will cover the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) Earth science instrument headed to the space station. Participants for this briefing will be:

-- Julie Robinson, ISS Program chief scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston

-- Colleen Hartman, deputy director for science at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

-- Robert J. Swap, program scientist with the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington

-- Matthew McGill, CATS principal investigator at Goddard

The second briefing, at 12:30 p.m., will provide up-to-date information about the launch. Participants for the prelaunch briefing will be:

-- Mike Suffredini, NASA’s ISS Program manager

-- Hans Koenigsmann, vice president for Mission Assurance at SpaceX

-- Kathy Winters with the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida

The final briefing of the day, at 2 p.m., will cover some of the numerous science investigations headed to the space station. Participants for the science briefing will be:

-- Julie Robinson, NASA’s ISS Program chief scientist

-- Michael Roberts, senior research pathway manager at the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, headquartered in Melbourne, Florida

-- Cheryl Nickerson, Micro-5 principal investigator at Arizona State University

-- Samuel Durrance, NR-SABOL principal investigator at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne

Media and the public can join the conversation using #ISScargo and #SpaceX5, and ask questions using #askNASA.

For more information about media accreditation, contact Jennifer Horner at 321-867-6598 or jennifer.p.horner@nasa.gov.

For an updated schedule of prelaunch briefings, events and NASA TV coverage, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/1FrjDEO

For launch countdown coverage, NASA's launch blog, and more information about the mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacex

For NASA TV schedule and video streaming information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

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