WASHINGTON – SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon cargo ship splashed down in thePacific Ocean on Saturday, the company said, a few hours after leaving theInternational Space Station Saturday carrying 4,000 pounds (1,800kilograms) of gear.
“Good splashdown of Dragon confirmed, completing SpaceX’s third resupplymission to and from the @Space_Station with a flight-proven spacecraft,”tweeted the company owned by Elon Musk around 1900 GMT.
The white supply vessel detached from the orbiting outpost at 1323 GMT,fired its engines three times and slowly began its journey to Earth.
“Release confirmed,” commentator Rob Navias said on NASA TV, noting thatseparation occurred as the ISS was 256 miles (411 kilometers) above theEarth, passing over just south of Australia.
“Dragon is safely on its way.”
The spacecraft is bringing back a host of science experiments, includinglab mice that were studied in orbit to see how their bones changed inweightlessness.
“Other critical biological samples preserved in science freezers, such asplants, insects and human tissue, have also been transferred into Dragonfor retrieval and analysis,” said a NASA statement.
SpaceX’s Dragon is currently the only cargo ship designed to return toEarth intact. The other US commercial supply ship, Orbital ATK’s Cygnuscargo carrier, burns up on re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere.
The cargo ship arrived at the ISS April 4 after launching from CapeCanaveral, Florida, with 5,800 pounds of food, supplies and scienceexperiments to enable the study of thunderstorms, anti-cancer drugs andtechnology to remove debris in orbit.
The mission was the 14th for SpaceX under a $1.6 billion contract with NASAto resupply the space station over multiple years. – APP/AFP