SpaceX Dragon capsule delivers science and supplies to space station

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A SpaceX Dragon capsule carry tons of science and supplies for the International Space Station crew successfully docked to the orbiting outpost on Sunday (May 17), two days after its launch.

The company's 34th mission under NASA's commercial resupply services (CRS) contract arrived at the space station at 6:37 a.m. EDT (1037 GMT). The Dragon autonomously docked to the forward-facing port of the Harmony module.

"Dragon contact and soft capture complete," reported NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway to Mission Control.

Hathaway and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot monitored the arrival of the Dragon from inside the station's Cupola.

The two, together with their Expedition 74 crewmates, will spend the next few weeks unpacking the craft of its nearly 6,500 pounds of cargo and then repacking it with science results, returning hardware and refuse for the trip back to Earth in mid-June.

Among the science delivered by the SpaceX CRS-34 (or SpX-34) mission include "a project to determine how well Earth-based simulators mimic microgravity conditions; a bone scaffold made from wood that could produce new treatments for fragile bone conditions like osteoporosis; and equipment to help researchers evaluate how red blood cells and the spleen change in space," according to a NASA media advisory.

The Dragon also delivered a new instrument to study charged particles around Earth that can impact power grids and satellites; an investigation that could provide a better understanding of planetary formation; and a device created to take highly accurate measurements of sunlight reflected by Earth and the moon.

The SpaceX Dragon lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday.

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Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, a daily news publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018.

In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History. In 2023, the National Space Club Florida Committee recognized Pearlman with the Kolcum News and Communications Award for excellence in telling the space story along the Space Coast and throughout the world.