SpaceX’s eighth operational cargo mission to the International Space Station is set for liftoff with nearly 3.5 tons of research investigations, crew provisions and an experimental expandable habitat for the International Space Station.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will go from Cape Canaveral to low Earth orbit in less than 10 minutes Friday with a Dragon capsule heading for the International Space Station carrying more than 5,900 pounds of supplies and experiments.

A small satellite assembled in Britain has been released from the International Space Station, commencing a standalone mission to test technology and techniques that could be used to capture and de-orbit space junk in low Earth orbit.