SPACEX-14 (SPX-14) PRE-LAUNCH PRESS CONFERENCES, Apr 1, 2018, KSC, 2:30 and 4:00 pm ET (webcast)

NASA will hold two pre-launch press conferences at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the Space X CRS-14 (SpX-14) launch that is scheduled for April 2.

The pre-launch press conferences will take place on April 1 as follows and will be broadcast on NASA TV:

Science Briefing, 2:30 pm ET

• Dan Close, chief scientific officer at 490 BioTech, will discuss the company’s Metabolic Tracking investigation to evaluate the use of a new method to test, in microgravity, the metabolic impacts of pharmaceutical drugs. This could lead to more effective, less expensive medicines on Earth.
• Torsten Neubert of the National Space Institute at the Technical University of Denmark, and principal investigator for the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor, will discuss how this Earth observatory will study severe thunderstorms and their role in the Earth’s atmosphere and climate.
• The Multi-use Variable-g Platform (MVP), developed, owned and operated by Techshot Inc., will serve as a new test bed aboard the space station, able to host 12 separate experiment modules with samples such as plants, cells, protein crystals and fruit flies. Rich Boling, vice president for corporate advancement at Techshot, will discuss the platform, and Sharmila Bhattacharya, a senior scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, will talk about the value of the research that will be conducted on it.
• Howard Levine, chief scientist in the Utilization and Life Science Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, will discuss continuing research on growing food in space, as the Veggie Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System experiment tests a new way to deliver nutrients to plants.

Mission Status, 4:00 pm ET

• Representatives of NASA’s International Space Station Program, SpaceX and the Air Force 45th Space Wing