SpaceX Dragon On Way To Space Station With Cargo, New Reboost Capability

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A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is headed for its 50th rendezvous with the International Space Station bringing cargo and a new reboost capability after having launched from the Space Coast early Sunday.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:45 a.m. on the CRS-33 mission, the 33rd resupply flight to the station with a spacecraft filled with more than 5,000 pounds of supplies.

The first-stage booster for the mission flew for the seventh time and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic.

Unlike other flights, this Dragon will stay docked to the station for more than four months because of a newly installed ability to propel the station to higher altitudes.

Located in the trunk of the Dragon is an independent propellant system to fuel two Draco engines that will help sustain the lab's altitude beginning in September and continuing through fall. This is a full demonstration, although the Dragon on CRS-31 in November 2024 did a smaller test of the capability.

Normally, Russia is responsible for all of the reboost maneuvers using its Progress cargo spacecraft docked on their side of the station.

While NASA's other commercial resupply provider Northrop Grumman has in the past also used its Cygnus module for minor altitude adjustments, this marks the first time Elon Musk's company will be relied on for operational boost capability.

It's part of NASA's plans to eventually decommission the station, which has been continuously occupied by humans since November 2000, but is slated to begin its end run after 2030.

For that, the station will need fuel reserves, and using the cargo Dragon for now will help build up some of those reserves instead of relying on the Progress spacecraft of the Russians.