NASA and SpaceX Target Tuesday Morning Launch of Station Cargo, Solar Arrays and Health Experiments

NASA and SpaceX are targeting 6:33 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 13, to launch a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying science and supplies to the space station, NASA said.

What NASA says is on board

This is the 35th SpaceX commercial resupply mission for NASA, according to the agency's coverage advisory. A Dragon spacecraft will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 with more than 6,300 pounds of supplies, NASA said.

The cargo includes the final set of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, per NASA. Those are the power-generating panels that unroll once they are attached outside the station. "Final set" is the detail worth noticing: NASA's advisory treats this delivery as the last of that group.

The science is the main focus of NASA's separate release on the mission. It describes four investigations from the agency's Biological and Physical Sciences division, all tied to astronaut health on long trips. NASA says the work also aims to benefit life on Earth.

Brain models. NASA says the station will host small, lab-grown models of the human brain for five weeks. Researchers will compare the tissue that flew with identical samples kept on the ground. The goal, per NASA, is to learn how a short spaceflight affects the brain at the cellular level. NASA says the results could help lay groundwork for ways to counter brain-health risks on future missions to the Moon and beyond.

Crop disease. A second investigation tests whether crop diseases develop faster and hit harder in microgravity, NASA says. Researchers will compare Earth-grown and station-grown plants infected with a disease-causing fungus. NASA says the findings could guide plant breeding on Earth and help cut yield losses in future farming in space.

A faster health check. The spacecraft also carries the first test of a compact microplate reader, a device that arrived at the station earlier this year, NASA says. The experiment checks whether it can detect and measure biomarkers such as antibodies, antigens and proteins. If it works, scientists could analyze samples on the station and get results quickly instead of waiting for the samples to come home, according to NASA.

Drug-resistant bacteria. The fourth investigation returns for what NASA calls its fourth and final planned stay on the station. It studies how antibiotic-resistant bacteria survive and evolve in microgravity. Astronauts repeatedly sample surfaces around the station to look for drug-resistant organisms, NASA says. On Earth, the agency says, the findings could shed light on how superbugs develop from the overuse of antibiotics.

More cargo

NASA's coverage advisory lists other items aboard. They include hardware to manufacture artificial retinas in microgravity, which NASA says could help restore vision on Earth. There are also 3D heart tissue models meant to advance large-scale drug testing on future missions, and materials to study how a new type of glass forms in microgravity.

NASA also lists brain organoids, which are small lab-grown clusters of brain cells. The agency says they could reveal treatment targets for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.

The schedule

NASA's advisory lays out the day in Eastern time, and says all times are subject to change based on real-time operations:

- 6:15 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 13: launch coverage begins.
- 6:33 a.m. EDT: targeted launch.
- 9:15 a.m. EDT, Thursday, Oct. 15: arrival coverage begins.
- 11 a.m. EDT, Thursday, Oct. 15: docking.

NASA's advisory says Dragon will dock on its own, with no one flying it, to the space-facing port of the station's Harmony module. It says the docking is planned for around 11 a.m. on Oct. 15.

Live launch and docking coverage streams at nasa.gov/live, per NASA. The agency also says the public can register to attend the launch virtually.

What is not known yet

The record available for this story gives the target time, not a confirmed liftoff. A target is a plan, not a launch. Until NASA or SpaceX confirms liftoff, the 6:33 a.m. EDT figure is where things stand.

What is next

If the launch goes as planned, Dragon docks Thursday, Oct. 15, at around 11 a.m. EDT, according to NASA. The agency says the spacecraft is scheduled to stay at the station until mid-November. It will then depart and return to Earth with time-critical research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of California, NASA says. The brain models, the plant study and the plate reader test all start once Dragon is docked and unloaded.

Stay curious.

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