NASA Science, Hardware Aboard SpaceX's 30th Resupply Launch to Station

Following a successful launch of NASA's SpaceX 30th commercial resupply mission, new scientific experiments and technology demonstrations for the agency are on the way to the International Space Station, including studies of technologies to measure sea ice and plant growth in space.

SpaceX's Dragon resupply spacecraft, carrying more than 6,000 pounds of cargo to the orbiting laboratory, launched on the company's Falcon 9 rocket at 4:55 p.m. EDT Thursday (March 21), from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The cargo spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously dock at the space station on Saturday, March 23, at approximately 7:30 a.m. EDT and remain at the orbital outpost for about a month.

The Dragon will deliver a new set of sensors for Astrobee robots to support automated 3D sensing, mapping, and situational awareness functions. These systems could support future Gateway and lunar surface missions by providing automated maintenance and surface scanning using rovers. Additionally, the spacecraft will deliver BurstCube, a small satellite that is designed to study gamma-ray bursts that occur when two neutron stars collide. This satellite could widen our coverage of the gamma-ray sky, improving our chances of studying bursts both with light and gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time, detected by ground-based observatories.

Finally, the spacecraft also will deliver sampling hardware for Genomic Enumeration of Antibiotic Resistance in Space (GEARS), an initiative that will test different locations of the space station for antibiotic-resistant microbes. In-flight gene sequencing could show how these bacteria adapt to the space environment, providing knowledge that informs measures to protect astronauts on future long-duration missions..

Dragon docks to space station

SpaceX's CRS-30 Dragon cargo spacecraft autonomously docked to the International Space Station's Harmony module at 7:19 a.m. EDT (1119 GMT) on Saturday (March 23), as the two spacecraft were over the South Atlantic Ocean.

Astronauts Loral O'Hara and Michael Barratt monitored the docking from inside the station.

Dragon undocks from space station

Following commands from ground controllers at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, Dragon undocked from the International Space Station on Sunday (April 28) at 1:10 p.m. EDT (1710 GMT) from the space-facing port of the Harmony module. At the time of undocking, the station was flying at an altitude about 260 miles above Earth.

After re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will make a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida at 1:38 a.m. EDT (0538 GMT) Tuesday.

Dragon is carrying back to Earth more than 4,100 pounds of supplies and scientific experiments designed to take advantage of the space station’s microgravity environment. After splashing down, the experiments will be transferred to NASA's Space Systems Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, where researchers will collect data with minimal sample exposure to Earth's gravity.

Scientific hardware and samples returning to Earth include Flawless Space Fibers-1, which produced more than seven miles of optical fiber aboard the space station. The investigation tests new hardware and processes for producing high-quality optical fibers in space and drew more than half a mile of fiber in one day, surpassing the previous record of 82 feet for the longest fiber manufactured in space.

Other studies include GEARS (Genomic Enumeration of Antibiotic Resistance in Space), which surveys the space station for antibiotic-resistant organisms. Genetic analysis could show how these bacteria adapt to space, providing knowledge that informs measures designed to protect astronauts on future long-duration missions.

Also returning on Dragon is MISSE-18 (Materials International Space Station Experiment-18-NASA), which analyzes how exposure to space affects the performance and durability of specific materials and components. MISSE-18 includes coatings, quantum dots, a lunar regolith simulant composite, and other materials. The samples returning home were exposed to the harsh environment of space for six months.

Additionally, samples from Immune Cell Activation will return to Earth for analysis. The ESA (European Space Agency) sponsored experiment seeks to understand whether microgravity influences the incorporation of magnetic nanoparticles into immune and melanoma cells. In this experiment, immune cells were modified with nano-vectors that are intended to carry therapeutic agents specifically to their target cells. Results could help develop novel therapeutics targeting central nervous system diseases and skin cancers such as melanoma.

Dragon splashes down

SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down at 1:38 a.m. EDT (0538 GMT) on Tuesday (April 30) off the coast of Tampa, Florida, marking the return of the company's 30th contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA.

The spacecraft carried more than 4,100 pounds of valuable scientific experiments and other cargo back to Earth.