After launching from the Space Coast early Sunday, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is en route to the ISS for its 50th rendezvous, carrying cargo and a novel reboost capability.
On the CRS-33 mission, the 33rd resupply flight to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a Falcon 9 rocket took out from Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:45 a.m. with a spacecraft loaded with over 5,000 pounds of supplies.
During its seventh flight, the mission’s first-stage booster made a downrange recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which is based in the Atlantic.
aD3fKAZeHN Liftoff!pic.twitter.com
SpaceX August 24, 2025 (@SpaceX)
Because of a recently developed capability to raise the station’s altitude, this Dragon will remain docked to the station for over four months, in contrast to prior missions.
In order to maintain the lab’s altitude starting in September and lasting through the fall, two Draco engines will be powered by an independent propellant system installed in the Dragon’s trunk. Although a smaller test of the capability was conducted by the Dragon on CRS-31 in November 2024, this is a complete demonstration.
Typically, Russia uses its Progress cargo spacecraft parked on their side of the station to perform all of the reboost maneuvers. Although its Cygnus module has previously been utilized for small altitude modifications by NASA’s other commercial resupply contractor, Northrop Grumman, this is the first time Elon Musk’s business will be depended upon for operational boost capabilities.
The station has been continuously inhabited by people since November 2000, but NASA intends to eventually decommission it. Its last run is scheduled to start after 2030.
Instead of depending on the Russian Progress spacecraft, the station will require fuel reserves for that, and using the cargo Dragon for the time being will assist build up part of those stores.
Additionally, SpaceX has a contract to develop a deorbit spacecraft that will use Dragon-like architecture to help the station return to Earth’s atmosphere, where it will burn up and land somewhere over the Pacific.
Dragon is scheduled to arrive at the station early on Monday and is anticipated to dock to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module on its own at 7:30 a.m.
The two are anticipated to stay docked until the cargo Dragon leaves in December. It will be stationed next to the Crew Dragon Endeavour, which landed earlier this month with the Crew-11 replacement crew.
While the first crewed Dragon arrived with the station in 2020, the first cargo Dragon did so in 2012. In addition to an uncrewed and crewed test flight of Crew Dragon, four private missions for Axiom Space that have all docked, and 32 prior cargo missions with the spaceship, SpaceX has also performed 11 rotational crew replacement missions.
Along with supplies for the station’s seven astronauts and cosmonauts, this mission also includes a slew of new study and science.
Included in the research are bone-forming stem cells for the study of preventing bone loss, materials for medical implants that can be 3D printed to heal damaged nerves, and bioprinted liver tissue for the study of blood vessel formation in microgravity.
According to acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, commercial resupply trips to the ISS provide science that supports the development of technology for Artemis lunar missions and beyond. This voyage will test technologies that could provide astronauts with tools and medical support on future journeys to the moon and Mars, such as 3D printing metal parts and bioprinting tissue in microgravity.
