SpaceX’s Dragon ship docked at the space station Thursday. It carried the final pair of roll-out solar arrays.
SpaceX’s cargo Dragon docked with the International Space Station on Thursday morning after a two-day chase, delivering more than 6,000 pounds of supplies and the station’s final pair of roll-out solar arrays. The CRS-35 spacecraft docked autonomously at about 10:27 a.m. EDT at the space-facing port of the Harmony module, according to Space.com.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying Dragon lifted off at 6:33 a.m. EDT Tuesday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It was SpaceX’s 35th commercial resupply mission for NASA. The cargo includes science experiments, crew supplies and spacewalk equipment, with equipment for more than 40 scientific studies, and will largely support the station’s newest crew, SpaceX’s Crew-13.
The headline item is the fourth and final pair of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, built by Redwire Space, which brings the number of arrays on the station to eight. NASA says the pair will complete the station’s power upgrade, boosting electricity for research and operations as well as the station’s planned safe, controlled deorbit. Astronauts will install them during spacewalks planned for later this fall.
Dragon will return to Earth at the end of the mission with completed experiments and other cargo for study.
This report is based on information from NASA, Space.com and Ascendants.