NASA’s SpaceX CRS-34 Dragon returns with space station science

Scientists await a big splash in the Pacific Ocean as one of the most research-packed Dragon spacecraft to date returns, completing the 34th SpaceX commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. Biological and materials samples, along with tested hardware, are heading back to research teams on Earth for further analysis, advancing NASA’s work to prepare humans for exploration beyond low Earth orbit and to deliver benefits back home.

Among the returning biological experiments are samples for the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Expansion in Space: Pathfinder Investigation (InSPA-StemCellEX-H2), which seeks to use microgravity to scale up production of stem cells whose ability to form different blood cell types diminishes on Earth.

Also coming back are stem cell–derived heart tissues intentionally infected in NASA’s Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn) Infection of Cardiac Tissue (MVP Cell-09) experiment to study pneumonia’s impact on cardiac cells.

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