SpaceX Launched Dragon’s 32nd Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-32) Mission to the ISS This Morning, Following This Weekend’s Expedition 72-73 Crew Exchange

(Cape Canaveral, Florida) SpaceX’s Falcon 9 – carrying an uncrewed Cargo Dragon spacecraft – launched its 32nd cargo mission (CRS-32) to the International Space Station (ISS) this morning (Apr. 21) at 4.15am ET (08.51 GMT) from Cape Canaveral’s Kennedy Space Center, in the wake of this past weekend’s exchange of the Expedition 72 and 73 crews on the ISS.

Photo of this morning’s (Apr. 21) SpaceX CRS-32 launch for NASA courtesy of Spaceflight Photographer Michael Cain, @mdcainjr on Instagram.

CRS-32 is carrying onboard more than three tons of supplies and scientific hardware to the ISS for NASA; Cargo Dragon is expected to arrive at the ISS tomorrow morning (Apr. 22) at approx. 8.20am ET (12.20 GMT).

In total, Dragon is carrying about 6,700 pounds (3,040 kg) of supplies and science payloads for the ISS crew, including food, equipment and science experiments and technology trials. Specifically, included onboard are an enhanced air quality monitoring system that could protect crew members on exploration missions to the moon and Mars; a demonstration of refined maneuvers for free-floating robots; and two atomic clocks to examine fundamental physics concepts, such as the theory of relativity, according to Space.com.

Photo of this morning’s (Apr. 21) SpaceX CRS-32 launch for NASA courtesy of Spaceflight Photographer Michael Cain, @mdcainjr on Instagram.

CRS-32 is the 12th flight under NASA’s second Commercial Resupply Services contract with SpaceX; CRS-32 is also the fifth flight for this Dragon, which previously flew CRS-22, CRS-24, CRS-27 and CRS-30, according to Space.com.

Post-takeoff, Falcon 9’s first stage booster returned to Earth as planned, landing at landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, according to a post on SpaceX’s website.