The Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A Thursday.
On board, more than 3,000 punds of crew supplies and science materials to support the nearly 250 experiments happening on the space station. Astronauts are studying everything from how plants grow in microgravity to the biology of fruit flies in space.
The launch is part of NASA’s commercial cargo program – paying commercial companies like SpaceX to ship supplies to the orbiting lab. This is SpaceX’s 11th mission under that contract.
In the spirit of re-usability, this will be the first time SpaceX is re-using a supply capsule. The Dragon, carrying the supplies into orbit, flew to the station in 2014. The private space company lands many of its first stage boosters and plans to relaunch them.
Thursday's launch attempt window opens at 5:55 p.m and weather remains favorable.
