September 14, 2025 / 7:22 PM EDT
/ CBS News
One day after the arrival of a Russian cargo ship, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched an upgraded Northrop Grumman space freighter Sunday, putting the unpiloted spacecraft on course for capture by the International Space Station early Wednesday.
On board: more than 5 tons of needed spare parts, research material and crew supplies, including holiday treats for the station crew.
“The (Cygnus) is packed with consumables, like nitrogen, oxygen, food and toilet parts, and it has a large number of spare parts that are required for systems like, for example, our urine processor,” said Dina Contella, deputy manager of the space station program at the Johnson Space Center.
“We’re stocking up on these items since we were short over the past year, and we’d like to have a good reserve for the future.”
Among the more mouth-watering items being delivered “are what I’d call specialties,” Contella said. “The crew can eat these during any of the upcoming holidays or at any time really, but these are foods like clams, oysters, crab, roast turkey and smoked salmon, plus treats like candies, cookies and ice cream.”
“We also have a high school breakfast competition food called … shakshuka scramble. It’s based on a popular dish throughout North Africa and the Middle East made of eggs cooked in spicy sauce.”
Mounted atop pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the Falcon 9’s first stage engines thundered to life at 6:11 p.m. EDT, generating 1.7 million pounds of thrust to push the rocket up into the early evening sky on a northeasterly trajectory matching the space station’s orbit.
After powering out of the thick lower atmosphere, the first stage separated, reversed course and flew itself back to a spectacular landing at the Space Force station to chalk up SpaceX’s 67th Florida touchdown and its 505th successful booster recovery overall.
The Falcon 9’s second stage, meanwhile, put the Cygnus into the planned preliminary orbit and released it to fly on its own 14-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. If all goes well, the spacecraft will catch up with the space station early Wednesday for capture by the lab’s robot arm.
Berthing will come four days after a Russian Progress cargo ship, launched Thursday from Kazakhstan, docked at the lab’s aft port, bringing propellant, a new Russian spacesuit and other needed supplies to the outpost.
Sunday’s launch was the third of at least four SpaceX flights purchased by Northrop Grumman while the company develops a new booster of its own. And it was the first flight of a Cygnus XL, so named because the spacecraft has been lengthened to allow it to carry more cargo to the space station.
“We’ve been partnering with Northrop Grumman on this update, and we’re excited that Northrop is ready to deliver this incredibly beneficial increase in capacity,” Contella said. “It’s about 1.6 meters (5 feet) longer, and it carries about 2,600 additional pounds more cargo.”
NASA pays for cargo delivery flights using Cygnus spacecraft and SpaceX’s Dragon. To date, SpaceX has successfully carried out 32 Dragon resupply missions, while Northrop Grumman has launched 21 successful flights. Both companies suffered one in-flight failure each early in the commercial resupply program.
Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.
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