NASA astronaut Steve Swanson captured this view of Cape Canaveral, Florida from the International Space Station, sharing it on Instagram on April 14, 2014. At Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, SpaceX is preparing to launch its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, loaded with nearly 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiment hardware, on its third commercial resupply mission to the space station.
The SpaceX-3 launch is scheduled for Friday, April 18 at 3:25 p.m. EDT with an instantaneous launch window. The U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron predicts a 40 percent chance of favorable conditions at launch time. A launch Friday will send Dragon on a course to rendezvous with the station Sunday morning. Commander Koichi Wakata and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio will capture the space freighter using the Canadarm2 robotic arm at 7:14 a.m. to set it up for its berthing to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module. The backup launch opportunity for the launch of SpaceX-3 is Saturday, April 19 at 3:02 p.m.
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Image Credit: NASA