A Dragon cargo spacecraft belonging to U.S. space company SpaceX sent 4,000 pounds (1,814 kilograms) of scientific experiments and equipment from the International Space Station back to Earth, splashing down off the coast of Florida on Saturday, local time.
After spending more than a month on the ISS, the unmanned Dragon splashed down on the Florida coast at 2:53 p.m. EDT on Aug. 20.
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SpaceX announced via personal social media tweets, “The Dragon spacecraft has confirmed its splashdown, completing SpaceX’s 25th cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.”
In another tweet, the company added: “After the Dragon spacecraft is recovered by SpaceX’s recovery team, the spacecraft’s critical science facilities will be transported by helicopter to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for transfer to researchers.”
SpaceX launched the Dragon spacecraft on its 25th cargo resupply mission from Kennedy Space Center on July 14, and the spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station two days later. The spacecraft delivered 5,800 pounds (2,630 kg) of scientific experiment equipment, crew resupply and other cargo to the ISS.
The Dragon spacecraft separated from the ISS on Friday and is scheduled to return to Earth on Saturday. The cargo carried by the spacecraft includes the results of some of the ISS experiments.
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is used to deliver supplies to and from the ISS under a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA, and SpaceX is one of two U.S. companies currently performing cargo resupply missions to the ISS, while Northrop Grumman uses the Cygnus cargo spacecraft for resupply missions. In addition to these two companies, Sierra Nevada Space Systems plans to provide similar services to NASA with the Dream Chaser spaceplane.
In addition to these U.S. companies, Russia’s Progress unmanned spacecraft also regularly conducts cargo resupply missions, and the European Space Agency and Japan have launched cargo spacecraft in the past.
The ISS currently has seven astronauts, including three U.S. astronauts, three Russian astronauts and one European astronaut. Four of the astronauts on the Crew-4 mission arrived on the ISS aboard SpaceX’s manned Dragon spacecraft.
SpaceX will also send the crew of NASA’s Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station in September of this year.
