REUTERS — NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough discussed his upcoming mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday (September 6) and contingency plans if SpaceX rockets are unable to resupply the space station.
Kimbrough and his crewmates cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov of the Russian Space agency will launch on September 23 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The team will conduct nearly 250 experiments during the five-month expedition with varied emphasis, including: life science, material science and medical experiments.
Kimbrough was asked how the recent SpaceX explosion might affect ISS resupply missions the private space company is scheduled to deliver.
“Well it may have an impact, we don’t know the full extent of the damage of course on the launch pad yet, or the failure that SpaceX had, I certainly don’t, somebody might, but I don’t know that information, so it’s a bit premature I think to project that we’re going to have issues logistically to the space station. We do have other vehicles that we can move payloads and experiments around if there are some issues with the SpaceX,” Kimbrough told Reuters.
Last Thursday (September 1) an explosion destroyed a Spacex Falcon 9 rocket during preparations for a routine test firing at Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida.
The cause of the accident is under investigation. Neither SpaceX, nor the FAA which is overseeing the investigation, have said how much damage the explosion caused.
Thursday’s accident, which occurred as the company was fueling its rocket as part of a routine prelaunch test firing, was the second failed mission for Musk’s space company in 14 months. In June 2015, a Falcon 9 rocket exploded about two minutes after liftoff from Florida, destroying a load of cargo headed to the International Space Station.
Kimbrough and his crewmates are scheduled to depart of September 23 and return to Earth in late February.
