CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Steve Volz, associate director for flight programs, Earth Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, briefs media representatives in Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site auditorium in preparation for the launch of the SpaceX CRS-4 mission to resupply the International Space Station. Volz is a member of the ISS Earth Science: Tracking Ocean Winds Panel. The mission is the fourth of 12 SpaceX flights NASA contracted with the company to resupply the space station. It will be the fifth trip by a Dragon spacecraft to the orbiting laboratory. The spacecraft’s 2.5 tons of supplies, science experiments, and technology demonstrations include critical materials to support 255 science and research investigations that will occur during the station's Expeditions 41 and 42. Liftoff is targeted for an instantaneous window at 2:14 a.m. EDT. To learn more about the mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann KSC-2014-3955

The International Space Station (ISS) is a habitable space station in low Earth orbit with an altitude of between 330 and 435 km (205 and 270 mi). It completes 15.54 orbits per day. Its first component launched into orbit in 1998, and the ISS is now the largest man-made body in low Earth orbit. The ISS consists of many pressurized modules, external trusses, solar arrays, and other components. ISS components have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, and American Space Shuttles. The ISS is a space research laboratory, the testing ground for technologies and systems required for missions to the Moon and Mars. The station has been continuously occupied for 16 years and 201 days since the arrival of Expedition 1 on 2 November 2000. This is the longest continuous human presence in low Earth orbit, having surpassed the previous record of 9 years and 357 days held by Mir. The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: the Russian Soyuz and Progress, the American Dragon and Cygnus, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, and formerly the Space Shuttle and the European Automated Transfer Vehicle. It has been visited by astronauts, cosmonauts and space tourists from 17 different nations.

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