SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on October 15 at 10:27 a.m. EDT, delivering more than 6,300 pounds of supplies and scientific equipment for the Expedition 75 crew. The mission marks SpaceX's 35th commercial resupply flight under its NASA contract.
The spacecraft carried the final set of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, designed to expand the station's power generation capacity. Installation is planned for later this fall.
Dragon transported equipment for manufacturing artificial retinas in microgravity, with researchers hoping the process could eventually enable technologies to restore vision. The cargo also included 3D heart tissue models for testing potential drugs, materials for studying how new types of glass form without Earth's gravity, and brain organoids for investigating neurological conditions including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis.
The Falcon 9 rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 13 at 6:33 a.m. EDT. Dragon will remain docked until mid-November, then return to Earth with time-sensitive research materials, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.