NASA scrubs SpaceX CRS-26 cargo launch to space station; next attempt set for Nov 26

The November 22 launch attempt of SpaceX's 26th commercial resupply services mission - CRS-26 - to the International Space Station for NASA was scrubbed due to poor weather conditions.

NASA and SpaceX are now targeting 2:20 p.m. EST Saturday, November 26, for the next launch attempt. Liftoff will be from Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

For a Nov. 26 launch, docking is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 27. The Dragon spacecraft will dock autonomously to the forward-facing port of the station's Harmony module and deliver more than 7,700 pounds of supplies, equipment and several science investigations to the crew aboard the space station, including the next pair of International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs), which will augment the laboratory's power.

Also hitching a ride on this mission are four CubeSats for NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites, or ELaNa. These include:

• Measurement of Actuator Response in Orbit (MARIO) - will add telescopes to an existing CubeSat in low-Earth orbit.
• petitSat - wll figure out how plasma bubbles and blobs affect communication, GPS, and radar signals.
• Scintillation Prediction Observation Research Task (SPORT) - a joint mission between the U.S. and Brazil to investigate the conditions that lead to the formation of plasma bubbles.
• Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology's Research and Education Vehicle for Evaluating Radio Broadcasts (TJREVERB) - developed by high school students, it will test the strength and consistency of iridium radio signals, the main way we communicate with CubeSats.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and return cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.