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By NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL spacecraft is launched on NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23 mission to the International Space Station on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025.Credit: NASA NASA is sending more science, technology demonstrations, and crew supplies to the International Space Station following the successful launch of the agency’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23 mission, or Northrop Grumman CRS-23.
The company’s Cygnus XL spacecraft, carrying more than 11,000 pounds of cargo to the orbiting laboratory, lifted off at 6:11 p.m. EDT Sunday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This mission is the first flight of the larger, more cargo-capable version of the solar-powered spacecraft.
Cygnus XL is scheduled to be captured at 6:35 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, by the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which NASA astronaut Jonny Kim will operate with assistance from NASA astronaut Zena Cardman. Following capture, the spacecraft will be installed to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port for cargo unloading.
The resupply mission is carrying dozens of research experiments that will be conducted during Expedition 73, including materials to produce semiconductor crystals in space and equipment to develop improvements for cryogenic fuel tanks. The spacecraft also will deliver a specialized UV light system to prevent the growth of microbe communities that form in water systems and supplies to produce pharmaceutical crystals that could treat cancer and other diseases.
These are just a sample of the hundreds of scientific investigations conducted aboard the station in the areas of biology and biotechnology, Earth and space science, physical sciences, as well as technology development and demonstrations. For nearly 25 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, where astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time. The space station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including Artemis missions to the Moon and American astronaut missions to Mars.
NASA’s arrival, capture, and installation coverage are as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Wednesday, Sept. 17
5 a.m. – Arrival coverage begins on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more.
6:35 a.m. – Capture of Cygnus XL with the space station’s robotic arm.
8 a.m. – Installation coverage begins on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more.
All coverage times are estimates and could be adjusted based on operations after launch. Follow the space station blog for the most up-to-date information.
Cygnus XL is scheduled to remain at the orbiting laboratory until March 2026, before it departs and disposes of several thousand pounds of trash through its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will harmlessly burn up. The spacecraft is named the S.S. William “Willie” C. McCool, in honor of the NASA astronaut who perished in 2003 during the space shuttle Columbia accident.
Learn more about this NASA commercial resupply mission at:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-northrop-grumman-crs-23/
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Josh Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov
Steven Siceloff
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-876-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones / Joseph Zakrzewski
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov / joseph.a.zakrzewski@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Sep 14, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
International Space Station (ISS) Commercial Resupply ISS Research Johnson Space Center Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply View the full article
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By NASA
Students prepare their robots to enter Artemis Arena during NASA’s Lunabotics competition on May 20, 2025, at the Center for Space Education near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. NASA/Isaac Watson As college students across the country embark upon the academic year, NASA is giving them something else to look forward to – the agency’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge. Teams interested in participating can submit their applications and supporting materials through NASA’s Stem Gateway portal beginning Monday, Sept. 8.
Key dates and challenge details are available in the 2026 Lunabotics Challenge Guidebook. Once all applications and supporting materials are received and evaluated, NASA will notify the selected teams to begin the challenge.
Student teams participating in this year’s challenge will create robots capable of building berms out of lunar regolith – the loose, fragmental material on the Moon’s surface. Structures like these will be important during lunar missions as blast protection during lunar landings and launches, shading for cryogenic propellant tank farms, radiation shielding around nuclear power plants, and other uses critical to future Moon missions.
“We are excited to continue the Lunabotics competition for universities as NASA develops new Moon to Mars technologies for the Artemis program,” said Robert Mueller, senior technologist at NASA, as well as co-founder and chief judge of the Lunabotics competition. “Excavating and moving regolith is a fundamental need to build infrastructure on the Moon and Mars and this competition creates 21st century skills in the future workforce.”
An in-person qualifying event will be held May 12-17, 2026, at the University of Central Florida’s Space Institute’s Exolith Lab in Orlando. From this round, the top 10 teams will be invited to bring their robots to the final competition on May 19-21, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s Artemis Arena in Florida, which has an area filled with a lunar regolith simulant. The team scoring the most points will receive the Lunabotics Grand Prize and participate in an exhibition-style event at NASA Kennedy.
By encouraging innovative construction techniques and assessing student designs and data the same way it does its own prototypes, NASA casts a wider net to find innovative solutions to challenges inherent in future Artemis missions, like developing future lunar excavators, in-situ resource utilization capabilities, and living on the Moon or Mars. With its multidisciplinary approach, Lunabotics also serves as a workforce pipeline, with teams gaining valuable hands-on experience in computer coding, engineering, manufacturing, fabricating, and other crucial skills, while also receiving technical expertise in space technology development.
NASA’s Lunabotics Challenge, held annually since 2010, is one of several Artemis Student Challenges. The two-semester competition provides U.S. college and technical school teams an opportunity to design, build, and operate a prototype lunar robot using NASA systems engineering processes. Competitions help NASA get innovative design and operational data, reduce risks, and cultivate new ideas needed to return to the Moon under the Artemis campaign to prepare for human exploration of Mars.
To learn more about Lunabotics, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/lunabotics-challenge/
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By Space Force
As Russia and China seek to expand their influence in space, Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, urged greater international cooperation to safeguard the domain at the South American Defense Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 20.
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By Space Force
The U.S. Space Force, in partnership with SpaceX, successfully launched the eighth mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-8) on a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A.
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By NASA
The 33rd SpaceX commercial resupply services mission for NASA, scheduled to liftoff from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in late August, is heading to the International Space Station with an important investigation for the future of bone health.
The experiment will test how microgravity affects bone-forming and bone-degrading cells and explore potential ways to prevent bone loss. This research could help protect astronauts on future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars, while also advancing treatments for millions of people on Earth who suffer from osteoporosis.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are derived from human bone marrow and stained with rapid red dye NASA Space’s Hidden Health Mystery
During long-duration missions, astronauts may experience a gradual reduction in bone density—typically around 1% to 2% per month—even with consistent exercise routines. While scientists understand how bones work on Earth, they aren’t sure exactly why bones weaken so quickly in microgravity.
Previous research aboard the space station revealed that microgravity changes how stem cells behave and what substances they release. Scientists now want to dig deeper into these cellular changes to better understand what causes bone loss in space and explore potential ways to prevent it.
Blocking a Potential Bone Thief
The Microgravity Associated Bone Loss-B (MABL-B) investigation focuses on special stem cells called mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs. As these cells mature, they build new bone tissue in the body.
Scientists suspect that a protein called IL-6 might be the culprit behind bone problems in space. Data from the earlier MABL-A mission suggests that microgravity promotes the type of IL-6 signaling that enhances bone degradation. The MABL-B experiment will investigate this by testing ways to block this IL-6 signaling pathway.
The experiment will grow mesenchymal stem cells alongside other bone cells in special containers designed for space research. Cells will be cultured for 19 days aboard the space station, with crew members periodically collecting samples for analysis back on Earth.
How this benefits space exploration
The research could lead to targeted treatments that protect astronauts from bone loss during long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. As crews venture farther from Earth, bone health becomes increasingly critical since medical evacuation or emergency return to Earth won’t be possible during Mars missions.
How this benefits humanity
The findings could provide new insights into age-related bone loss that affects millions of people on Earth. Understanding how the IL-6 protein affects bone health may lead to new treatments for osteoporosis and other bone conditions that come with aging.
Related Resources
Microgravity Associated Bone Loss-B (MABL-B) Microgravity Associated Bone Loss-A (MABL-A) Microgravity Expanded Stem Cells About BPS
NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by using space environments to conduct investigations not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomenon under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefitting life on Earth.
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