Video: Alice Bowman, New Horizons mission operations manager, previews Ultima Thule flyby (members only)

A SpaceX Dragon supply ship departed the International Space Station and returned to Earth Tuesday to conclude its third round-trip flight to the orbiting research outpost, bringing home a spacesuit, mice and and numerous experiments.

The mission is likely to be the fourth and final Starship flight before the end of 2024. Liftoff from Pad 1 at Starbase at Boca Chica Beach, Texas, is set for 4 p.m. CST (5 p.m. EST, 2200 UTC).

Thirteen years outbound from Earth and a billion miles past Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons probe is healthy and on course for a historic New Year’s Day flyby of its next target, a frozen remnant left over from the birth of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago, project scientists say.