Early on Sunday morning, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched the Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Dragon is now on its way to the International Space Station, where it’s set to dock at ISS around 7:30 a.m. ET on Monday.
This is the third flight for the Dragon spacecraft, and the 33rd SpaceX resupply mission to the ISS. According to NASA, Dragon is filled with more than 5,000 pounds of supplies, including more than 50 research projects.
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“Research conducted aboard the space station advances future space exploration — including Artemis missions to the Moon and astronaut missions [to] Mars — and provides multiple benefits to humanity,” NASA said in a statement.
Supplies for science experiments being sent to the ISS on CRS-33 include: materials to 3D print medical implants for advancing treatments for nerve damage; bio-printed liver tissue to study blood vessel development in microgravity and supplies to print 3D metal cubes in space.
When it comes to the experiment on bio-printing liver tissue, “results could help support the eventual production of entire functional organs for transplantation on Earth,” NASA said.
One of the other experiments being sent is bone-forming stem cells to study bone loss prevention.
Heidi Parris, associate program scientist for the ISS Program, said that the research team is testing out a hypothesis that blocking a protein in the body known to promote bone loss or bone health changes might help reduce the bone loss astronauts see in space, Florida Today reported.
“In addition, the knowledge we gain from this study may also help us find ways to minimize bone loss in patients on Earth,” Parris added.
As for food, Dragon is bringing coffee, tea and more than 1,500 tortillas to crew members, CBS News wrote.
“We fly tortillas because … other breads and things like that have too many crumbs and things of that nature [that float away in weightlessness], so you can’t actually maintain it in orbit,” Bill Spetch, ISS operations and integration manager, was quoted by the outlet as saying. “Tortillas are a great substitute for that.”
Soon, the Dragon will fire its thrusters to take the ISS even higher into orbit. This is necessary, Space.com said, because the station flies through a “thin skein of air molecules” while going around the Earth about 250 miles up. This resulting drag means supply ships need a boost once in a while to keep operating, Space.com wrote.
