SpaceX launches cargo mission carrying solar arrays, science experiments to ISS

SpaceX launched a Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station on Tuesday, carrying more than 2,800 kilograms of supplies, equipment and scientific experiments for NASA.

SpaceX launched a Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station on Tuesday, carrying more than 2,800 kilograms of supplies, equipment and scientific experiments for NASA.

The Dragon spacecraft lifted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida as part of SpaceX’s 35th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the orbiting laboratory.

Dragon is scheduled to dock autonomously with the space station at about 11:00 am EDT on Thursday, Oct. 15, at the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module, according to SpaceX.

The cargo includes the final pair of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSA), which will complete an upgrade to the station’s power system, increasing the electricity available for research and operations and supporting its eventual safe, controlled deorbit.

The spacecraft is also carrying scientific equipment to manufacture artificial retinas in microgravity, which could help improve treatments for people with vision loss, as well as three-dimensional heart-tissue models intended to advance drug testing.

Other experiments will study how glass forms in microgravity and use brain organoids — small, lab-grown models of brain tissue — to investigate potential treatment targets for neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.

The Dragon spacecraft is making its fourth flight, while the Falcon 9 rocket’s first-stage booster is on its eighth flight, according to SpaceX.