Video: Marc Buie, New Horizons Occultation Team Lead (members only)

SpaceX is eligible to propose using its next-generation Starship vehicle to carry NASA robotic science payloads to the lunar surface, the U.S. space agency announced Monday, on missions that could precede future Starship flights with people on-board. SpaceX is one of five companies NASA selected Monday to join a roster of commercial transportation providers to deliver scientific instruments and technology demonstration packages to the moon as soon as 2022.

Watch the Jason-3 Mission Science Briefing held at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on January 15, 2016. (Membership required.)

Rodents, water filters and a laser relay are among the 6,500 pounds of science and equipment that will launch to the International Space Station on Thursday evening. A Falcon 9 rocket launched carrying a SpaceX Cargo Dragon at 8:28 p.m. EST (0128 UTC on Nov. 10) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.