CRS-24 arrived just before Christmas 2021, carrying around 2,900 kilograms including a quantity of fresh fruit and holiday provisions alongside the scientific cargo — a small logistical courtesy that has become traditional on flights arriving at that time of year.
The science included experiments on bioprinting human tissue, on the behaviour of construction materials in microgravity, and a study of how spaceflight affects the mechanisms of ageing at the cellular level.
It also delivered hardware for the station's ongoing maintenance and a set of small satellites for later deployment.
The capsule was making its second flight, the booster its fourth, and the mission was conducted without notable incident.
It returned around 2,200 kilograms including completed experiments and biological samples in cold stowage — the return capability that remains, more than a decade after the Shuttle's retirement, unique to this vehicle among the station's supply fleet.
