The SpaceX-29 commercial resupply spacecraft will deliver numerous physical sciences and space biology experiments, along with other cargo, to the International Space Station. The research aboard this resupply services mission will help researchers learn how humans, and the plants needed to sustain them, can thrive in deep space.

The biological and physical sciences investigations headed to the Space Station are:

Plant Water Management-5 and 6 (PWM-5 and 6)

NASA has grown plants on the Space Station even without the help of gravity. But microgravity does present challenges and affects Space Station plants' ability to receive adequate hydration and nutrition. The Plant Water Management-5 and 6 (PWM-5 and 6) investigation uses the physical properties of fluids, such as surface tension and wetting, as a mechanism to provide hydration and aeration for plants. Results could advance understanding of the physical aspects of fluid flow and inform designs of fluid delivery systems for reduced gravity environments.

On Nov. 10, journalists were given an up-close view of two very special spacecraft that will soon empower weather services in Europe with more and higher quality data for weather forecasting.

Metop Second Generation A1 and B1 (Metop-SGA1 and Metop-SGB1) are the first pair of a total of six satellites in the EUMETSAT Polar System—Second Generation (EPS-SG) system.

The first two satellites are undergoing testing and integration of their instruments at the Airbus Defense and Space cleanroom in Toulouse, France. It is anticipated they will be launched in 2025–2026 into their low-Earth, polar orbit, at about 835km altitude.

"The multi-billion euro EPS-SG system will be the main source of data for complex computer modeling used for advanced weather forecasting from 12 hours to 10 days ahead," EUMETSAT's EPS-SG Program Manager Fran Martinez Fadrique said.

SpaceX launched another rocket from Florida's Space Coast on Thursday night sending thousands of pounds of cargo to the International Space Station while also bringing back a booster that sent a sonic boom across Central Florida.

A Falcon 9 with an uncrewed cargo Dragon on the CRS-29 mission blasted off at 8:28 p.m. Eastern time from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A.

It was the second flight for the rocket's first-stage booster having back in August launched Crew-7, the crew of which are still on the ISS. Its recovery landing came not at seas, but back at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Landing Zone 1, bringing the signature double sonic boom across parts of the Space Coast and Central Florida.

Orbiting the ISS are seven crew from the U.S., Japan, Denmark and Russia, and they'll get a fresh food kit including oranges, apples, cherry tomatoes and carrots as well as two specialty cheese kits.

"And because we're in the holiday season we've got some fun holiday treats for the crew like chocolate, pumpkin spice cappuccino, rice cakes, turkey, duck, quail, seafood, cranberry sauce and mochi," said Dana Weigel, NASA's deputy program manager for the International Space Station Program on Wednesday during a press conference to discuss the mission's Launch Readiness Review.