NASA and SpaceX are targeting Sunday, August 24, for the next launch to deliver science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. This is the 33rd SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for NASA.
Filled with more than 5,000 pounds of supplies, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Dragon will dock autonomously on Monday, August 25, to the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module.
In addition to food, supplies, and equipment for the crew, Dragon will deliver several experiments, including bone-forming stem cells for studying bone loss prevention and materials to 3D print medical implants that could advance treatments for nerve damage on Earth. Dragon also will deliver bioprinted liver tissue to study blood vessel development in microgravity and supplies to 3D print metal cubes in space. Research conducted aboard the space station advances future space exploration – including Artemis missions to the Moon and astronaut missions Mars – and provides multiple benefits to humanity.
In addition, Dragon will perform a reboost demonstration of station to maintain its current altitude. The hardware, located in the trunk of Dragon, contains an independent propellant system separate from the spacecraft to fuel two Draco engines using existing hardware and propellant system design. The boost kit will demonstrate the capability to help sustain the orbiting lab’s altitude starting in September with a series of burns planned periodically throughout the fall of 2025. During NASA’s SpaceX 31st commercial resupply services mission, the Dragon spacecraft performed its first demonstration of these capabilities on November 8, 2024.
The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the space station until December when it will depart and return to Earth with research and cargo, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
Image: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 21, 2025, on the company’s 32nd commercial resupply services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 4:15 a.m. EDT.
Credit: SpaceX
