5,000-Pound Payload Of Experiments & Supplies Arrives At Station

SpaceX’s Dragon docked to the International Space Station on Monday morning August 25, delivering 5,000 pounds of cargo and scientific experiments to the orbiting lab on the company’s 33rd CRS or commercial resupply services mission for NASA.

The flight launched at 2:45 am ET on August 24 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, riding on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. About 28 hours and 20 minutes later, at 7:05 am ET on August 25, the Dragon ship docked autonomously to the forward port of the ISS Harmony module.

This was the third flight for this particular Dragon spacecraft, having flown previously on the CRS-26 and CRS-29 missions to the station. This was the seventh flight for the first stage booster, which after stage separation and its boostback burn, it landed about eight and a half minutes after launch on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship prepositioned in the Atlantic Ocean.

Sean Duffy, acting NASA Administrator, said, “Commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station deliver science that helps prove technologies for Artemis lunar missions and beyond. This flight will test 3D printing metal parts and bioprinting tissue in microgravity – technology that could give astronauts tools and medical support on future Moon and Mars missions.”

The cargo delivery consisted of food, supplies, and equipment for the crew as well as several experiments. They include stem cells to form bone for studying bone loss prevention, materials for 3D printing of medical implants for advanced treatment of nerve damage, and bioprinted liver tissue to study blood vessel development in microgravity.

Another goal of this mission is for Dragon to perform a series of burns using its two Draco engines and associated hardware and propellant to boost the ISS into a higher orbit to help sustain its altitude. The burns will be done starting in September and periodically through the fall.

The Dragon is scheduled to remain docked until its return in December, when it will depart the station and return to Earth with cargo and research to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.

FMI:  www.spacex.com/ , www.nasa.gov/