NASA and SpaceX are targeting 6:33 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 13, for the next launch to deliver science investigations, supplies, and equipment, including the final set of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, to the space station. This is the 35th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbital complex for NASA.
NASA also will host a media teleconference on Thursday, Oct. 8 that will preview the cargo resupply flight, as well as provide a post-splashdown update for the agency's SpaceX Crew-12 mission, which will have returned to Earth from the space station Thursday morning.
Loaded with more than 6,300 pounds of supplies, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Dragon will dock autonomously around 11 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, to the space-facing port of the station's Harmony module.
NASA's live launch and docking coverage will stream through a variety of platforms. Learn where to watch online:
In addition to the solar arrays, the Dragon spacecraft will deliver hardware to manufacture artificial retinas in microgravity to help restore vision on Earth and 3D heart tissues models to advance large‑scale drug testing on future missions. The spacecraft will carry materials to study how a new type of glass forms in microgravity and brain organoids that could reveal treatment targets for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and multiple sclerosis.
The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the space station until mid-November when it will depart the orbiting laboratory and return to Earth with time-critical research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of California.
NASA's mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Thursday, Oct. 8
1:15 p.m.: International Space Station briefing for Crew-12 return, and SpaceX's 35th Commercial Resupply Services launch with the following participants:
- Bill Spetch, deputy manager of Commercial, Low Earth Orbit Program
- Dr. Liz Warren, deputy chief scientist, NASA's International Space Station Office
- Lee Echerd, senior mission manager, Customer Operations and Integration, SpaceX
- Andreas Mogensen, leader, Human Exploration Group, ESA (European Space Agency)
