by Chris Tobias

This Friday, April 8, SpaceX will launch an unmanned Dragon spacecraft to low Earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket to deliver critical cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA.  SpaceX’s eighth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-8),  will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.  The instantaneous launch window opens at 4:43pm EST.  (A backup launch window opens at 4:20pm EST on April 9 if necessary.)  Dragon will be deployed about 10 minutes after launch, and its flight to the ISS is significant for a number of reasons.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is loaded into Dragon in preparation for its April 8 launch.  (Photo:  SpaceX)

Dragon will be carrying a very important cargo to the ISS on CRS-8.  In addition to experiments that will help NASA test the affect of antibodies on muscle wasting in microgravity, provide insight into the interactions of particle flows at the nanoscale level and use protein crystal growth in microgravity to help in the design of new drugs to fight disease, Dragon will also deliver a very special cargo called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM).  This module is an experimental expandable capsule that attaches to the space station.

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