SpaceX's Dragon Cargo Ship Heads to Space Station with Fresh Supplies and Cool Tech

Early Sunday morning, SpaceX sent its Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS) on its 33rd mission. The Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:45 a. m. ET, carrying over 5, 000 pounds of supplies and equipment. The Dragon capsule separated from the rocket about 10 minutes after launch. It will reach the ISS after a 29-hour journey and dock at 7:30 a. m. Monday. The cargo includes food, science gear, spacewalk equipment, and a special thruster kit to help maintain the ISS's altitude. The food supplies are interesting. Instead of regular bread, the crew gets tortillas because they don't crumble in zero gravity. The mission also carries 50 research projects, including a 3D metal printer and a study on bone loss in space. One experiment aims to create 3D-printed medical devices to help nerves regrow after injuries. The ISS has been continuously occupied for 25 years. It has hosted over 280 residents and supported more than 4, 000 scientific experiments. The station's altitude slowly decreases due to atmospheric drag, so it needs occasional boosts to stay in orbit. Usually, Russian Progress cargo ships handle this, but this mission includes a boost kit from SpaceX to help maintain the ISS's altitude. The Dragon cargo ship will stay docked until December. During this time, the boost kit will provide about a quarter of the propulsion needed to keep the ISS at its 260-mile-high orbit. The first boost is planned for September 3.