NASA has sent approximately 2.5 tons of cargo to the International Space Station aboard Space Exploration Technologies‘ Dragon spacecraft as part of the agency’s $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with the company.
The agency said Friday that the Friday launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station marks SpaceX’s third delivery of scientific payloads and technology.
ISS crews will use the tools for at least 150 research experiments, NASA said.
William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said astronauts on the space station and Dragon will investigate how humans adapt to living in space for long periods of time and work to develop technologies for future deep space exploration.
Dragon also carried five research CubeSats for NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellite mission to demonstrate technologies such as plant biology and smartphone capabilities.
NASA expected Dragon to reach the space station by Sunday and to depart for Earth on May 18 with 3,500 pounds of cargo from the space station.
