SpaceX Launches Cargo Dragon With 6,500 Pounds Of Supplies To ISS — First Cargo Dragon To Fly A Sixth Mission

SpaceX launched an uncrewed Cargo Dragon Friday carrying about 6,500 pounds of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station, including nearly a ton of research apparatus, samples and materials supporting roughly 50 separate scientific investigations.

Launch Details

The flight, pushed back three days by poor weather, lifted off at 6:05 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Pad 40. The Falcon 9 climbed on a northeasterly trajectory aligned with the station's orbit.

A camera on the Falcon 9 first stage shows the view looking down as it neared its Cape Canaveral landing pad, while a camera on the ground captured a dramatic view of the lander's final descent. / Credit: NASA/SpaceX

Roughly two and a half minutes after liftoff the first stage separated and steered itself back for a precision return-to-launch-site landing on a pad near the launch gantry. The second stage continued to orbit and released the Cargo Dragon to operate independently nine minutes and 20 seconds after liftoff.

This mission marked the Falcon 9's 638th launch since its 2010 debut, SpaceX's 56th flight so far this year, and the company's 611th successful booster recovery. The booster that landed was on its sixth flight, and the Cargo Dragon on this mission becomes the first to visit the station for a sixth time.

The first stage completed its sixth flight with a picture-perfect touchdown at Landing Zone 40 near the rocket's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch pad. / Credit: NASA/SpaceX

What It's Carrying

The dragon is delivering more than three tons of equipment and supplies to Expedition 74. The cargo manifest includes:

• 1,363 lb of crew clothing, food and essentials
• ~1,000+ lb of vehicle hardware
• 282 lb of spacewalk components
• 186 lb of computer gear
• 1,834 lb of research equipment and samples (nearly a ton of research hardware supporting ~50 investigations)

"This will be the first Cargo Dragon spacecraft to head to the station for a sixth time, so a great milestone there," said Bill Spetch, ISS operations integration manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center. "This mission includes everything from water purification hardware to research that helps us better understand space weather."

Rendezvous and Station Operations

If all goes as planned, the Cargo Dragon will perform an automated rendezvous with the ISS early Sunday and is expected to dock at the forward end of the Harmony module at about 7 a.m. ET. After hatches are opened, members of Crew-12 — commander Jessica Meir, pilot Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev — will unload the vehicle.

/ Credit: NASA

Also aboard as part of Expedition 74 are Soyuz MS-28/74S commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, cosmonaut Sergey Mikaev and NASA astronaut Chris Williams.

"The ISS has enabled more than 4,000 different science experiments and technology demonstrations in its 25 years on orbit," said Liz Warren, deputy chief scientist for the space station program. "That represents the work of over 5,000 researchers from 110 countries around the world. The International Space Station is a truly global endeavor and a key stepping stone for Artemis, lunar exploration and future missions to Mars."

Upcoming Missions

Key upcoming milestones for the station program include:

• Soyuz MS-29 (Pyotr Dubrov, Anna Kikina, Anil Menon) scheduled to launch from Baikonur on July 14 to rotate crew.
• A Russian Progress cargo launch expected in early September.
• NASA's Crew-13 (Jessica Watkins, Luke Delaney, Joshua Kutryk, Sergey Teteryatnikov) set to launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon on Sept. 12 to relieve Crew-12.

Three additional cargo flights are anticipated before the end of the year, with regular crew rotation flights expected to resume in early 2027.