The first flight of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule

A small satellite assembled in Britain has been released from the International Space Station, commencing a standalone mission to test technology and techniques that could be used to capture and de-orbit space junk in low Earth orbit.

SpaceX will be aiming to complete its 440th successful booster landing with this mission, using a Falcon 9 first stage booster flying for an 18th time. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is targeting 9:51 p.m. EDT (0151 UTC).

Mostly clear skies and brisk westerly winds are forecast at launch time Friday afternoon for SpaceX’s first resupply mission to the International Space Station in nearly a year.