SpaceX readies 6,500-pound cargo run to the ISS on CRS-34 mission

SpaceX will launch the Dragon cargo capsule atop a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral at 6:50 p.m. ET on May 13, delivering about 6,500 pounds of supplies and experiments to NASA’s ISS payload mission CRS-34. The Dragon is expected to dock autonomously with the Harmony module on May 14 around 7:35 a.m. EDT, marking the sixth flight for this Dragon capsule. The mission includes research such as Earth-based simulator validation, a wooden bone scaffold, and studies of red blood cells and spleen function in microgravity. After roughly a month attached to the ISS, the Dragon will return to Earth in mid-June; SpaceX’s booster should land at Cape Canaveral about eight minutes after liftoff. CRS-34 is SpaceX’s 34th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the ISS, and Dragon remains the only cargo vehicle capable of returning cargo to Earth.