Photos: Falcon takes flight

SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship wrapped up a 29-day stay at the International Space Station on Tuesday, departing the complex with nearly 3,700 pounds of research specimens, a balky spacesuit and experimental 3D printed parts before re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

This is the third and final launch that Amazon booked onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for no earlier than Oct. 12 at 8:29 p.m. EDT (0029 UTC).

SpaceX is readying two Falcon 9 rockets for a pair of flights nine hours apart Sunday from separate pads along Florida’s Space Coast. Weather permitting, the back-to-back departures Sunday would mark shortest span between two orbital-class launches from Cape Canaveral since 1966.