SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Dragon cargo ship to ISS for NASA
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying a Dragon cargo craft to the ISS on its CRS-35 resupply mission for NASA.
Dragon was set to dock autonomously Thursday after a roughly 52-hour flight.
Background
SpaceX is the rocket company operating Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship. CRS-35 is its 35th cargo resupply mission under its Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA, the customer for the flight to the International Space Station (the orbiting laboratory). The Dragon spacecraft flying this mission had flown three times before. The launch came during a busy stretch for SpaceX, which also flew a classified U.S. Space Force mission from California and scheduled several Starlink and rideshare launches.
How it unfolded
- Oct 13, 2026A Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at around 6:33–6:35 a.m. EDT (10:35 GMT) carrying the Dragon cargo spacecraft on CRS-35.
- Oct 13, 2026The launch was visible in Upstate skies early Tuesday; Dragon was to dock autonomously with the ISS on Thursday around 11:00 a.m. after an approximate 52-hour flight.
- Oct 15, 2026A Falcon 9 was scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 7:44 p.m. EDT on the classified USSF-481 mission for the U.S. Space Force, with the first stage expected to land on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific.
- Oct 19, 2026SpaceX scrubbed the Monday Bandwagon-5 attempt and moved it to Tuesday, citing unfavorable recovery weather conditions for the Falcon 9 booster.
- Oct 20, 2026Bandwagon-5 was targeted for a window between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. ET from Launch Complex 40 carrying 32 payloads, and Starlink Group 15-15 was scheduled for 3:14 p.m. PDT from Vandenberg with 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites.
Who’s saying what
- Official
- SpaceX said it was "now targeting no earlier than Tuesday, October 20" for Bandwagon-5 from Florida due to unfavorable recovery weather conditions.
- Caution
- Whether skywatchers see a "space jellyfish" glow depends on cloud cover, the rocket's exact trajectory and viewer location, and SpaceX has not confirmed the effect will appear.
Still unverified
The USSF-481 mission was described as delivering "mysterious payloads to an undisclosed location," with SpaceX not expected to provide more info during the webcast; Starlink Group 15-15 was listed as targeted/scheduled, not yet confirmed complete, as of publication. Reports also differed on CRS-35's docking spot: Florida Today said the ISS's Zenith Port, while Space.com said the space-facing port of the Harmony module.