The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft on its 17th contracted mission to resupply mission to the International Space Station is pictured moments before being released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Credits: NASA

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 20, to discuss select science investigations launching on the next SpaceX commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station.

Audio of the teleconference will stream live online at: 

https://www.nasa.gov/live

SpaceX is targeting 12:51 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, for the launch of its Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Participants in the briefing will be:

• Bryan Dansberry, assistant program scientist for NASA’s International Space Station Program Science Office, who will share an overview of the research being conducted aboard the space station and how it benefits exploration and humanity
• Michael Roberts, interim chief scientist for the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory, who will discuss the lab’s work in advancing science in space, and in developing partnerships that drive industrialization through microgravity research
• Se-Jin Lee, professor at the Jackson Laboratory and University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and principal investigator of Rodent Research-19, who will discuss research on molecular signaling pathways that influence muscle degradation to prevent skeletal muscle and bone loss during spaceflight, and enhance recovery following return to Earth
• Robert Thompson, project scientist for the Cold Atom Lab at NASA’s Jet Propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, California, who will discuss a new science package that will allow scientists to probe fundamental theories of gravity, and can serve as a pathfinder for future instruments
• Paul V. Ferkul, co-investigaor at Universities Space Research Association, Cleveland, Ohio, who will discuss an experiment that examines flame behavior as it spreads in differently-shaped confined spaces in microgravity

• Gary Hanning, director of Global Barley Research for Anheuser-Busch, who will discuss an experiment that aims to look at barley seeds in microgravity
• Mark Neuman of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who will discuss a new docking station make it quicker and simpler for astronauts to deploy the Robotic External Leak Locator (RELL)

To participate in the teleconference, media must contact Kathryn Hambleton at 202-358-1100 or kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov by 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, for dial-in information. 

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft also will carry crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory to support the Expedition 61 crew for the 19th mission under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

The space station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and enables research not possible on Earth. The orbiting laboratory has been occupied continuously since November 2000. In that time, more than 230 people, and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft, have visited the orbiting laboratory. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

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

https://www.nasa.gov/spacex

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Press Contacts

Kathryn Hambleton
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov

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