November 7, 2024 at 2:43 PM SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will do something different during its latest stay at the International Space Station, in a test setting up the company to ultimately destroy the orbiting laboratory – at the request of Nasa – when the international program ends. As soon as Friday, the Cargo Dragon, which arrived earlier this week with 6,000 pounds of fresh foods, supplies, and science, will complete a reboot demonstration, using its Draco thrusters to increase the space station's attitude in orbit. Previously, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft and Russia’s Progress spacecraft have completed these maneuvers to raise the space station's position in orbit. "This is an important flight test objective for this mission as we continue to increase the capabilities of all the vehicles on ISS," said Bill Spetch, operations and integration manager with NASA’s International Space Station program. SpaceX will use Dragon's aft-control Draco engines, firing the thrusters for about 12.5 minutes before handing control back to ISS. Jared Metter, director of flight and reliability at SpaceX, said the data from this test will help the company develop the deorbit vehicle to end the space station's time in low-Earth orbit.