KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL –  After two weather scrubs earlier this week, the 3rd time finally proved to be the charm at last! With a gorgeous picture perfect launch for the 34th NASA SpaceX resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) thundered off the launch pad Friday evening May 15 carrying 6500 lbs hardware, science experiments & supplies to the Expedition 74 astronauts circling overhead.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off on the CRS-34 cargo resupply mission at 6:05 p.m. EDT (2205 UTC) Friday, May 15 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with a packed payload of new scientific research experiments, gear, food water clothing and more to the 7-person multinational crew

Eight minutes later the 1^st stage Falcon 9 booster nailed its landing back at the launch site at LZ-40

This counts as the 6^th launch and landing for for the first stage B1096.6 – following launches of NASA’s IMAP, GPS III-9, NROL-77, Kuiper Falcon 01, and Starlink Group 6-87.

The rocket flew on a northeasterly trajectory along the US East Coast for its link up with the ISS

The SpaceX spacecraft, loaded with nearly 6,500 pounds of cargo for the space station’s Expedition 74 crew, is scheduled to autonomously dock at about 7 a.m. Sunday, May 17, to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module.

CRS-34 also counts as the sixth flight of the Dragon spacecraft serial number C209 supporting this mission, which previously flew CRS-22, CRS-24, CRS-27, CRS-30, and CRS-32 to and from the space station.

This flight CRS-34 also counts as the first time aDragon Cargo spacecraft has launched a 6^th time, but the second for the upgraded Dragon program overall.

Crew Dragon Endeavour had already flown for a sixth time previously with humans onboard.

SpaceX hopes to fly the Dragon for up to 15 times eventually but that’s a work in progress.

Watch NASA’s live rendezvous and docking coverage beginning at 5:30 a.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel.

Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

Dragon will carry cargo for the crew aboard the space station as well as new experiments and research projects, including

• 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.

The Dragon spacecraft also will carry a new instrument to study charged particles around Earth that can impact power grids and satellites, an investigation that could provide a fundamental understanding of how planets form, and an instrument designed to take highly accurate measurements of sunlight reflected by Earth and the Moon.

These experiments are just a sample of the hundreds of investigations conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science.

For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs that aren’t possible on Earth. The space station helps NASA understand and overcome the challenges of human spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build on the foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon, as part of the Artemis program, and to Mars.

The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the station until mid-June, when it will depart and return to Earth with time-sensitive research and cargo, ahead of splashing down off the coast of California.

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