Lifted Off Monday April 21 From LC-39A at NASA Kennedy In Florida

The SpaceX Falcon 9 booster rocket successfully launched the Dragon spacecraft on its way to the International Space Station on NASA’s 32nd Commercial Resupply Services mission carrying supplies and a new set of scientific experiments.

The spacecraft was ferrying a payload of about 6,700 pounds to the orbiting lab after lifting off from Launch Complex 39A at 4:15 am EDT Monday April 21 at the NASA Kennedy Space Center near Titusville, Florida. The Dragon is due to arrive and autonomously dock at the ISS around 8:20 am Tuesday April 22 onto the space-facing part of the station’s Harmony module.

The crew of NASA’s Expedition 73 will receive dozens of research experiments along with food and essential equipment for the mission.

Among the experiments are a demonstration of refined maneuvers for free-floating robots, an enhanced air quality monitoring system that may assist astronauts on exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, two atomic clocks to examine relativity and test global synchronization of precision timepieces. Other experiments are related to research in biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science to benefit all of humanity.

They also play a foundational role gathering information and data to formulate future human missions to the Moon and Mars under NASA’s Artemis campaign.

The Dragon spacecraft will stay at the station until May when it will return to Earth with time-sensitive research and cargo. Dragon will do a water landing off the coast of California.

FMI:  www.nasa.gov/ , www.spacex.com/