AI Insight
NASA has opened media accreditation for SpaceX's 35th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station, scheduled to launch no earlier than October 2026 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Dragon spacecraft will carry approximately 6,500 pounds of cargo including scientific experiments, supplies, equipment, and the final International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (IROSA) to complete the station's power augmentation system. Key scientific payloads include hardware for manufacturing artificial retinas in microgravity, 3D heart cell models for drug testing, materials for studying glass formation in space, and brain organoids for neurodegenerative disease research.
Why it matters
This mission supports continued scientific research on the ISS while delivering critical infrastructure upgrades, particularly solar arrays needed for long-term station operations and its eventual controlled deorbit. The experiments being transported could advance medical treatments for vision loss, neurodegenerative diseases, and improve drug testing capabilities for future long-duration space missions to the Moon and Mars.
Understand the Science
Media accreditation is open for the next cargo launch that will deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. The 35th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for NASA will lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than October to launch the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Credentialing to cover prelaunch and launch activities is open to U.S. media only. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Oct. 1. All accreditation requests must be submitted online at:
Media will receive a confirmation email upon approval. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For questions about accreditation, or to request special logistical support, email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other questions, please contact NASA’s Kennedy Space Center newsroom at: 321-867-2468.
Each resupply mission to the station delivers scientific investigations in biology and biotechnology, Earth and space science, physical sciences, and technology development and demonstrations. Cargo resupply from U.S. companies ensures a national capability to deliver scientific research to the space station, significantly increasing NASA’s ability to conduct new investigations aboard humanity’s laboratory in space.
In addition to food, supplies, and equipment for the crew, Dragon will deliver the final sets of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, called IROSA, which astronauts will install during future spacewalks to complete station’s power augmentation. Once installed, the arrays will provide additional power to support critical station operations, including its safe and controlled deorbit.
The mission also will transport several new experiments to the orbital complex, including hardware to manufacture artificial retinas in microgravity that could help restore vision for patients on Earth and 3D heart cell models to advance large-scale drug testing on future space missions. Dragon also will carry materials to study how a new type of glass is formed in microgravity, and brain organoids that could uncover potential treatment targets for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis.
For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station helps NASA understand and overcome the challenges of human spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build on the foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon, as part of the Artemis program, and to Mars.
Learn more about NASA’s commercial resupply missions at:
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Josh Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov
Steven Siceloff
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-876-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones / Joseph Zakrzewski
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov / joseph.a.zakrzewski@nasa.gov
Source: NASA Invites Media to SpaceX’s 35th Resupply Launch to Space Station