SpaceX and NASA Target Oct. 13 Launch to Deliver Final Solar Arrays to Space Station

NASA and SpaceX are targeting 6:33 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 13, for the launch of the 35th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the final set of Roll-Out Solar Arrays and more than 6,300 pounds of cargo, NASA said.

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft riding a Falcon 9 rocket will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, according to NASA's mission release. Dragon will then fly to the station and dock autonomously at around 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 15, to the space-facing port of the station's Harmony module, NASA said.

The solar arrays are the headline item. This is the final set of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, known as IROSAs, that the station will receive, NASA confirmed. Once installed, they will complete the planned upgrade to the station's power system.

The Dragon spacecraft will also carry four research payloads that NASA described in its release. The first is hardware to manufacture artificial retinas in microgravity, with the goal of helping restore vision on Earth. The second is 3D heart tissue models intended to advance large-scale drug testing on future missions. The third is materials to study how a new type of glass forms in microgravity. The fourth is brain organoids that researchers hope could reveal treatment targets for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and multiple sclerosis.

The detail that stands out in the NASA release: Dragon will carry all four of those research payloads alongside the solar arrays, meaning this single flight is doing heavy lifting for both infrastructure and science at the same time.

NASA said the Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the station until mid-November, when it will depart and return to Earth with time-critical research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of California. The exact departure and splashdown dates are not confirmed in the release.

NASA will host a media teleconference today, Oct. 8, at 1:15 p.m. EDT to preview the mission. Participants listed by NASA include Bill Spetch, deputy manager of NASA's Commercial Low Earth Orbit Program; Dr. Liz Warren, deputy chief scientist at NASA's International Space Station Office; Lee Echerd, senior mission manager for Customer Operations and Integration at SpaceX; and Andreas Mogensen, leader of the Human Exploration Group at the European Space Agency.

For anyone who wants to watch, NASA said launch coverage begins at 6:15 a.m. EDT on Oct. 13, with liftoff targeted for 6:33 a.m. Docking coverage is set to begin at 9:15 a.m. EDT on Oct. 15. Both will stream live at nasa.gov/live, NASA confirmed. The agency is also offering a virtual guest program for the public, with registration available through NASA's website.

The full mission page is at nasa.gov/mission/nasas-spacex-crs-35.

What is not yet in the record: whether the Oct. 13 window is the only attempt or whether a backup opportunity exists. The NASA release does not address that.

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