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Following a successful launch of NASAs SpaceX 30th commercial resupply mission, new scientific experiments and technology demonstrations for the agency are on the way to the International Space Station, including studies of technologies to measure sea ice and plant growth in space.

SpaceXs Dragon resupply spacecraft, carrying more than 6,000 pounds of cargo to the orbiting laboratory, launched on the companys Falcon 9 rocket at 4:55 p.m. EDT Thursday, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The cargo spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously dock at the space station on Saturday, March 23, at approximately 7:30 a.m. and remain at the orbital outpost for about a month.

Live coverage of the arrival will begin at 5:30 a.m. on NASA+, NASA Television, and on the agencys website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms.

The Dragon will deliver a new set of sensors for Astrobee robots to support automated 3D sensing, mapping, and situational awareness functions. These systems could support future Gateway and lunar surface missions by providing automated maintenance and surface scanning using rovers. Additionally, the spacecraft will deliver BurstCube, a small satellite that is designed to study gamma-ray bursts that occur when two neutron stars collide. This satellite could widen our coverage of the gamma-ray sky, improving our chances of studying bursts both with light and gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time, detected by ground-based observatories.

Finally, the spacecraft also will deliver sampling hardware for Genomic Enumeration of Antibiotic Resistance in Space (GEARS), an initiative that will test different locations of the space station for antibiotic-resistant microbes. In-flight gene sequencing could show how these bacteria adapt to the space environment, providing knowledge that informs measures to protect astronauts on future long-duration missions.

These are just a few of the hundreds of investigations conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. Advances from this scientific research will help keep astronauts healthy during long-duration space travel and demonstrate technologies for future human and robotic exploration beyond low Earth orbit to the Moon through NASAs Artemis campaign, in advance of the first crewed mission to Mars.

Get breaking news, images and features from the space station on Instagram, Facebook, and X.

Learn more about NASA commercial resupply services missions at:

https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/commercial-resupply/

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Josh Finch / Julian Coltre / Claire OShea Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / julian.n.coltre@nasa.gov / claire.a.oshea@nasa.gov

Stephanie Plucinsky / Steven Siceloff Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-876-2468 stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov / steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

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NASA Science, Hardware Aboard SpaceX's 30th Resupply Launch to Station - NASA

A SpaceX Starlink launch lit up skies across the U.S. West Coast on Monday evening (March 18), leaving a dazzling trail seen for hundreds of miles.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on California's central coast Monday at 10:28 p.m. EDT (7:28 p.m. local time; 0228 GMT on March 19). The launch vehicle carried a batch of 22 Starlink satellites to add to SpaceX's ever-expanding wireless internet megaconstellation.

In what's come to be known as the "jellyfish" effect, the dusk launch provided ideal conditions for the setting sun to light up the rocket's expanding engine plume against the darkening sky, as the vehicle climbed high into Earth's atmosphere.

Related: SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites from California in dusky evening liftoff (video)

The launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base is notorious for its overcast and extremely foggy conditions, so Monday's clear skies were a relatively rare treat for onlookers.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, SpaceX shared photos of the launch.

Many X users responded to SpaceX's post, sharing their photos of the Falcon 9 jellyfish, which could be seen in neighboring states. "I can see it from my rooftop in Arizona," wrote Brandon D. Schilling (@BrandoSchil).

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Observers at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles were also treated to the sky site, as the Falcon 9's trail stretched above the busy city low on the horizon.

Monday's launch was the 10th mission for this particular Falcon 9 first stage, which landed downrange on SpaceX's droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean shortly after liftoff. The rocket's second stage continued to orbit, successfully deploying the 22-satellite payload in low Earth orbit (LEO).

SpaceX's Starlink megaconstellation currently consists ofmore than 5,500 satellites, and continues to grow. A recent test launch of the company's giant Starship vehicle included a payload bay door designed to deploy SpaceX's next-generation Starlink satellites, expected to add thousands more to the network once in operation.

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SpaceX's evening Starlink launch wows West Coast skywatchers (photos) - Space.com

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION It was a successful launch for SpaceX after it sent up its 30th commercial resupply services mission for NASA to the International Space Station late Thursday afternoon.

SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket left Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 4:55 p.m. ET to send CRS-30 mission to the ISS.

The 45th Weather Squadron gave a 90% chance of good launch conditions with the only thing to worry about is the thick cloud layers and cumulus cloud rules.

Before this launch, SpaceXs first-stage booster B1080 has only five missions to its name:

The first-stage booster of the Falcon 9 rocket landed at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which created a sonic boom.

The CRS-30 mission will send experiments, food, supplies and equipment using SpaceX's Dragon space capsule and sending them to the famed floating laboratory, stated NASA.

NASA and the agencys international partners are sending scientific investigations to the International Space Station on the 30th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission, including tests of technologies to monitor sea ice, automate 3D mapping, and create nanoparticle solar cells, according to the U.S. space agency.

"APEX-09 observes two plant species (C3 and C4) with differing mechanisms for capturing CO2 during photosynthesis. Researchers aim to uncover the molecular changes that occur in plants when they are exposed to microgravity and a combination of space flight stressors," stated NASA. (Image courtesy of Dr. Pubudu Handakumbura.)

APEX-09: This experiment will look at how microgravity will impact two types of grasses when they capture carbon dioxide. The purpose of this is to see how plants can be used for regenerative life support systems (using plants to create oxygen for space stations and ships) and provide food.

Nanoracks-Killick-1: More than 100 undergraduate and graduate engineer students took part in this project that will have a GNSS Reflectometry CubeSat for Measuring Sea Ice Thickness and Extent (Nanoracks-Killick-1) CubeSat to measure sea ice parameters from space.

Multi-Resolution Scanning: Our MRS on an Astrobee free-flying robot will create 3D maps inside the space station, said Marc Elmouttie, who is the project lead with Australias national science agency CSIRO, which developed the technology with Boeing. It could be used to discover defects either in or outside of the ISS and even scanning the surface of Mars and Earths moon.

Nano Particle Haloing Suspension: It is a new way of using tiny spheres called quantum dots that have the possibility of turning sunlight into energy more efficiently.

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SpaceX to launch 30th resupply mission for NASA - News 13 Orlando

SpaceX just tested a new astronaut ride one that takes folks down to the ground rather than high above it.

That ride is a deployable slide installed atop the tower at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), a pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It's designed to get astronauts off the tower in a hurry in the event of an emergency before liftoff.

We just got to see the slide in action, thanks to a video SpaceX posted on X on Tuesday (March 19). The 24-second video provides an astronaut's-eye view of the slide experience, which though serious business wouldn't be out of place at an amusement park.

"Even though its meant to be used for emergencies, it looks like a lot of fun!" SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via X on Tuesday, in a post responding to the slide video.

Related: SpaceX to launch 30th cargo mission to the ISS for NASA this week

The recent slide test is part of SpaceX's effort to certify SLC-40 for astronaut launches. SpaceX has launched 13 crewed missions to date, all of them from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which is next door to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

To evacuate from Pad 39A's launch tower, astronauts jump into baskets that slide down wires to terra firma. The SLC-40 system is different, as the new video shows: It's an enclosed chute that deploys from the top of the tower when needed, riding already-emplaced cables to the ground.

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

SpaceX has launched many (uncrewed) missions from SLC-40 over the years. And another one will lift off on Thursday (March 21), if all goes according to plan.

A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch a robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station from the pad on Thursday at 4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 GMT). You can watch the action here on Space.com when the time comes.

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Whee! Zip down from the launch tower in SpaceX's new emergency-escape slide (video) - Space.com

March 21 (UPI) -- A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida on Thursday with a Dragon cargo capsule filled with supplies and experiments for the International Space Station.

The launch from Cape Canaveral was SpaceX's 30th commercial supply mission. It is ferrying food, supplies and research equipment to Crew-8, which arrived at the ISS earlier this month.

Also aboard the supply craft are experiments, including those that will study plant metabolism, the physics of fluid that could benefit solar cell technology, and information that will help researchers study and understand sea ice and ocean conditions.

Also aboard Dragon will be food. But Crew-8 will enjoy more than standard, freeze-dried space food. There will be a fresh food kit, including citrus, apples and cherry tomatoes among the 6,000 pounds of cargo aboard the Dragon.

Some food cargo is being awaited more eagerly than other items aboard the Dragon capsule.

"They have two coffee kits, which I would probably be the most excited about," Heidi Parris, associate program scientist at NASA's International Space Station Program Research Office, said during a Tuesday afternoon media conference. "The crew requested those, so we're making sure we get them some fresh coffee."

The astronauts, themselves, will be the subjects of some of the onboard experiments being sent to the space station. Researchers will be collecting information to study a variety of health topics, including age-related diseases and mental-health issues.

Researchers also will study printing cardiac tissue, antibiotic resistance in space, and how the human brain adapts to extreme conditions, according to NASA.

They also will be studying the effect of spaceflight on human eyes, because space travel is thought to mimic oxidated age-related diseases, such as macular degeneration.

Addressing this problem would lead to further understanding about safe human space travel over long durations but also potentially offer treatment for patients on Earth, too.

The resupply mission also is carrying a new camera, which is expected to provide highly detailed images of Earth.

The Dragon is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.

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Space station-bound Dragon supply capsule filled with everything from experiments to coffee - UPI News