Nation digest: Commercial ship back from space station

FLORIDA

SpaceX ship returns cargo from station

The commercial cargo ship Dragon returned to Earth from the international space station on Sunday, bringing back nearly two tons of science experiments and old equipment for NASA.

SpaceXs Dragon splashed into the Pacific just five hours after leaving the orbiting lab.

After a one-month visit, the cargo ship was set loose Sunday morning. Astronaut Steven Swanson, the station commander, released it using the big robot arm as the craft zoomed more than 260 miles above the South Pacific.

The SpaceX Dragon is the only supply ship capable of returning items to Earth. The others burn up on reentry. This was the fourth Dragon to bring back goods from the space station; with 3,500 pounds aboard, it came down off Mexicos Baja California coast.

NASA is paying SpaceX and Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. to make station deliveries. Orbital is next up, next month. Russia, Europe and Japan also make occasional shipments.

Associated Press

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Nation digest: Commercial ship back from space station