SpaceX launches final pair of Redwire solar arrays to ISS on NASA's CRS-35
NASA's CRS-35 Dragon carried the final pair of Redwire's ISS solar arrays, completing the station's power upgrade.
what happened
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched NASA's 35th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-35) Cargo Dragon from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral at 6:33 a.m. EDT on October 13, carrying more than 6,300 pounds of supplies and hardware, per NASA. Dragon is set to dock autonomously to the Harmony module's space-facing port at 11 a.m. EDT on October 15. The cargo includes the final pair of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, built by Redwire, which astronauts plan to install on spacewalks this fall to complete the station's power augmentation, along with hardware for 3D-printed artificial retinas, 3D heart tissue models, new glass-formation materials, and brain organoids for neurodegenerative disease research.
why it matters
The flight closes out a multi-year Redwire program to re-power the ISS and follows the company's recent follow-on Axiom Space contract for a second commercial station module's solar arrays, giving Redwire a flight-proven product line to pitch other station developers. For SpaceX, it extends an unbroken cadence of NASA cargo missions the agency is relying on through the Commercial Crew transition as Starliner's return to flight slips and Dragon service winds down after 2030.