{"id":931692,"date":"2026-10-13T17:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T17:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/931692\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T17:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T17:06:14","slug":"spacex-launches-nasa-science-and-cargo-to-the-international-space-station-spaceflight-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/931692\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX launches NASA science and cargo to the International Space Station \u2013 Spaceflight Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s booster and upper stage plume intermingle and are illuminated by the rising Sun during the launch of NASA\u2019s SpaceX CRS-35 mission on Oct. 13, 2026. Image: Michael Cain\/Spaceflight Now<\/p>\n

Under the soft glow of sunrise Tuesday morning, SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket roared away from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:33 a.m. EDT (1033 UTC) to begin a cargo run to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

The 35th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-35) is carrying more than 6,300 pounds of science and supplies to the orbiting outpost when it docks to the space-facing port of the Harmony module on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Fewer than 7.5 minutes after leaving the launch pad, the first stage booster, tail number B1096, wrapped up its eighth trip to space and back with a landing at Landing Zone 40 adjacent to the pad. A thunderous sonic boom rang across the spaceport and beyond, signaling its return.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Two minutes later, the Cargo Dragon spacecraft, tail number C211, separated from the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s upper stage to begin a two-day journey to the space station. Onboard cameras showed views of two Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) wings, nestled inside Dragon\u2019s unpressurized trunk, that will be installed to augment the power of the ISS.<\/p>\n

Built by Redwire Space, these were the fourth and final pair of ROSAs bound for the space station. Each are capable of providing more than 20 kW of power for more than 10 years. NASA has been preparing for their installation with a series of spacewalks.<\/p>\n

\"\"A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to send NASA\u2019s SpaceX CRS-35 mission to the International Space Station. Image: Adam Bernstein\/Spaceflight Now<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been quite the journey. Folks may remember back in 2017 when we launched the ROSA on CRS-11 and that\u2019s really where we demonstrated this innovative approach to deploying a solar array,\u201d said Gaurang Patel, NASA\u2019s operations integration manager of its Low Earth Orbit Program, during post-launch remarks on the agency\u2019s broadcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we were able to prove that technology, we were trying to understand how we could leverage this for the ISS and apply that. The legacy arrays are not outfitted to have standard upgrades and so, teams had to go look at ways we could attach these arrays. And there were non-standard interfaces where we had to put these modification kits, to safely mount these arrays.\u201d<\/p>\n

A version of the ROSA will be used to help power NASA\u2019s Space Reactor 1 Freedom (SR-1 Freedom) when it launches in 2028.<\/p>\n

\"\"A composite streak shot of SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (right) and the landing of Booster 1096 at Landing Zone 40 fewer than eight minutes later. Image: Michael Cain\/Spaceflight Now<\/p>\n

Also onboard the Dragon spacecraft is the equipment necessary to support more than 40 different scientific studies. That includes a range of biological and plant science experiments as well as testing a new type of glass.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost ordinary glass forms from silica, the main component in sand. Unconventional glass is made from heavier elements that aren\u2019t traditionally used to form glass. These unconventional glasses could have remarkable properties, including refractive indices higher than diamond, greater resistance to breaking, and even the ability to contract rather than expand when heated,\u201d said Dr. Liz Warren, NASA\u2019s deputy chief scientist within its ISS Office, during a prelaunch press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew types of glass like these could advance optics and electronics on Earth and supports space exploration with stronger, lighter, radiation-resistant, or higher-performing glass. This could potentially be used in lunar rovers and lunar habitats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dragon C211 will spend about a month docked to the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Joshua Kutryk will monitor the spacecraft\u2019s arrival on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s booster and upper stage plume intermingle and are illuminated by the rising Sun…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":931693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-931692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}