On May 15, 2026, SpaceX successfully launched an unpiloted Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS) carrying 6,500 pounds of supplies and equipment, including nearly a ton of research gear and materials for 50 science investigations. The launch, delayed by three days due to bad weather, took place at 6:05 p.m. ET from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The Falcon 9 booster, making its sixth flight, completed part of the mission. After two and a half minutes, the first stage separated and landed safely on a designated pad near the launch site. The second stage continued into orbit, releasing the Cargo Dragon at nine minutes and 20 seconds post-launch.
This marked SpaceX’s 638th Falcon 9 mission since 2010, the 56th of the year, and its 611th successful booster recovery. The Dragon spacecraft is notable as the first to make a sixth journey to the ISS.
According to Bill Spetch, ISS operations integration manager, the mission included over 6,000 pounds of hardware, supplies, and experiments. Items ranged from water purification hardware to space weather research components.
The Cargo Dragon is expected to complete an automated rendezvous with the ISS on Sunday, docking with the forward Harmony module around 7 a.m. Once hatches are opened, the cargo will be unloaded by Crew 12 commander Jessica Meir, alongside pilot Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
The current seven-member Expedition 74 crew also includes Soyuz MS-28 commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, fellow cosmonaut Sergey Mikaev, and NASA astronaut Chris Williams.
The cargo includes over 3 tons of supplies: 1,363 pounds of crew clothing and food; over 1,000 pounds of vehicle hardware; 282 pounds of spacewalk components; 186 pounds of computer gear; and 1,834 pounds of research equipment and samples. Liz Warren, deputy chief scientist for the space station program, highlighted the ISS as a global platform for scientific breakthroughs.
July will see Soyuz MS-29 launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome, with Pyotr Dubrov, Anna Kikina, and Anil Menon replacing current crew members. A Russian Progress ship is set to launch in September, followed by NASA’s Crew 13 heading to the ISS on Sept. 12 aboard another SpaceX Crew Dragon.
Three additional cargo flights are anticipated by year’s end, with crew rotations resuming in early 2027.