SpaceX CRS-29, also known as SpX-29, is a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) launched on 10 November 2023. The mission was contracted by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

and flown by

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

using Cargo Dragon C211. It was the ninth flight for SpaceX under NASA's CRS Phase 2.

Cargo Dragon

SpaceX plans to reuse the Cargo Dragons up to five times. The Cargo Dragon will launch without

SuperDraco SuperDraco is a hypergolic propellant rocket engine designed and built by SpaceX. It is part of the SpaceX Draco family of rocket engines. A redundant array of eight SuperDraco engines provides fault-tolerant propulsion for use as a launch escap ...

abort engines, without seats, cockpit controls and the life support system required to sustain astronauts in space.

Dragon 2 Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by the American space company SpaceX for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. The spacecraft, which cons ...

improves on

Dragon 1 SpaceX Dragon 1 is a class of fourteen partially reusable cargo spacecraft developed by SpaceX, an American private space transportation company. The spacecraft flew 23 missions between 2010 and 2020. Dragon was launched into orbit by the co ...

in several ways, including lessened refurbishment time, leading to shorter periods between flights. The new Cargo Dragon capsules under the NASA CRS Phase 2 contract will land east of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in the Atlantic Ocean.

Launch

and

originally targeted a window no earlier than 03:01 UTC on Sunday, November 6, 2024, for the launch of the company's 29th commercial resupply services mission to the

. The date shift takes into account required time for teams to complete pad readiness after the agency's

Psyche Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" ( ψυχή). Psyche or La Psyché may also refer to: Psychology * Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious * ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unc ...

launch on SpaceX's

Falcon Heavy Falcon Heavy is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle with partial reusability that can carry cargo into Earth orbit and beyond. It is designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket consists of a center core ...

rocket, which lifted off on October 13 from

Launch Complex 39A Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, was built in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V lau ...

at NASA's

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

. Falcon 9 and the Cargo Dragon spacecraft lifted off on 10 November 2023 at 01:28:14 UTC from Launch Complex 39A. The first stage separated at T+2:21, and Falcon 9 landed at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at T+7:36. The second stage shut down at T+8:33, and the Dragon spacecraft separated from the second stage at T+11:46.

Manifest

The Cargo Dragon spacecraft was loaded with a total of of cargo and supplies before its launch, including of pressurized and of unpressurized cargo. The cargo manifest is broken down as follows: *Crew supplies: *Science investigations: *Spacewalk equipment: *Vehicle hardware: *Computer resources:

Research

Various experiments were transported to the orbiting laboratory, providing valuable insights for researchers. The research includes work to understand interactions between weather on Earth and space, and laser communications. NASA's Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) will study atmospheric gravity waves –powerful waves formed by weather disturbances on Earth such as strong thunderstorms or brewing hurricanes – to understand the flow of energy through Earth's upper atmosphere and space. Another experiment – Integrated

Laser Communications Relay Demonstration The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) is a NASA mission that will test laser communication in space for extremely long distances, between Earth and geosynchronous orbit. After being integrated into STPSat-6, a part of STP-3, ...

Low-Earth-Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal – (ILLUMA-T) aims to test high data rate laser communications from the space station to Earth. This will complete NASA's first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system by sending high-resolution data to the agency's

, which launched in December 2021. It will be tested for six months on ISS, before being placed into operational use. Other investigations that will launch with the resupply mission include ESA's (European Space Agency) Aquamembrane-3, which will test water filtration using proteins found in nature for water recycling and recovery, and Plant Habitat-06, which will evaluate the effects of spaceflight on plant defense responses using multiple genotypes of tomato. Redwire will be launching microgravity research payloads focused on pharmaceutical drug development and regenerative medicine, including an experiment in bioprinting cardiac tissue.

Gallery

References