### SpaceX Falcon 9 to Launch 31st Resupply Mission to ISS with Scientific Payload

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL—SpaceX is set to launch its 31st Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-31) mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday night, weather permitting. The Falcon 9 rocket, standing vertically at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A, will lift off at 9:29 p.m. EST (0229 UTC).

The mission will transport over 6,000 pounds of cargo and scientific experiments, primarily aimed at research and technology demonstrations. Live coverage of the launch will be available approximately an hour and a half before liftoff, provided by Spaceflight Now.

The Dragon spacecraft, designated C208, is making its fifth trip to the ISS, having previously been used for missions CRS-21, 23, 25, and 28. It will be propelled by the Falcon 9's first stage booster, B1083, also on its fifth flight after supporting Crew-8 for NASA, Polaris Dawn, and two Starlink missions. If successful, the B1083 booster will touch down at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station nearly eight minutes after liftoff. This would mark the 46th booster landing at LZ-1 and the 362nd overall booster landing by SpaceX.

The mission follows the scrubbing of a Starlink launch the previous day due to a helium issue with the first stage booster. NASA and SpaceX will likely address this during Monday's launch readiness review. The CRS-31 mission has already experienced minor delays; the rocket was originally scheduled to be raised on Saturday but was not positioned upright until around 7 p.m. EST.

The Dragon's cargo includes 5,368 pounds of pressurized materials and a 721-pound payload in its trunk. Key scientific payloads include CODEX (COronal Diagnostic EXperiment), a solar coronagraph designed to study solar wind, and Nanolab Astrobeat, an experiment focused on "cold welding" for spacecraft hull repairs.

Additionally, the mission will carry the ARTEMOSS experiment, which investigates how Antarctic moss adapts to deep space conditions, specifically cosmic radiation and microgravity. The ISS National Lab supports over 25 experiments on this mission, including protein crystallization research from Bristol Myers Squibb and student-led projects examining various effects of microgravity.

Overall, CRS-31 promises to be a critical mission for ongoing research and technological advancement aboard the ISS, contributing to our understanding of space and improving capabilities for future missions.