Category Archives: Space Station

A view of the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship moments after its release from the International Space Station's robot arm Saturday.The spacecraft, loaded with 3,276 pounds of equipment and experiment samples, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California five-and-a-half hours later. Alexander Gerst/NASA

A commercial cargo ship loaded with some 3,276 pounds of equipment and experiment samples, believed to include mice that were on board as part of a muscle atrophy study, returned to Earth Saturday to close out a five-week visit to the International Space Station.

Astronaut Reid Wiseman, operating the station's robot arm, detached the solar-powered Dragon spacecraft from the forward Harmony module around 8 a.m. EDT (GMT-4), maneuvered it into position and released it to open space at 9:57 a.m.

SpaceX flight controllers at the company's Hawthorne, Calif., plant then uplinked commands to fire the spacecraft's braking rockets at 2:43 p.m., putting the capsule on course for a fiery plunge back into the atmosphere.

The Dragon's re-entry systems apparently worked normally, parachutes deployed and the cargo ship splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 265 miles west of Baja California at 3:38 p.m.

Recovery crews standing by aboard a ship in the landing zone planned to haul the spacecraft back to Long Beach, Calif., where time-critical research samples will be offloaded and turned over to NASA.

The capsule then will be shipped to SpaceX's McGregor, Texas, facility where the rest of the cargo, including computer gear, spacewalk equipment and other hardware, will be removed.

This was SpaceX's fourth station resupply flight under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for 12 missions to deliver some 44,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station.

The Dragon departure sets the stage for the undocking of a Russian Progress cargo ship from the Pirs module at 1:39 a.m. Monday. Unlike the Dragon capsule -- the only station resupply craft capable of carrying cargo back to Earth -- the Progress will burn up in the atmosphere later in the day.

Orbital Sciences plans to follow the Progress and Dragon departures with launch of a commercial Cygnus cargo craft from Wallops Island, Va., on Monday at 6:45 p.m. Making the company's third operational resupply flight, the Cygnus is expected to be captured by the station's robot arm and berthed at the Harmony port just vacated by the Dragon spacecraft on Sunday, Nov. 2.

Excerpt from:
SpaceX cargo ship returns to Earth after station visit

A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship ended a monthlong stay at the International Space Station on Saturday and made a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore used the stations robotic crane to release the capsule, built and operated by California-based SpaceX, as the two vehicles soared 260 miles (418 kilometers) over Australia.

"Dragon is free," mission commentator Rob Navias said during a NASA broadcast.

Several hours later, the gumdrop-shaped Dragon made a parachute descent into the Pacific Ocean, about 300 miles (500 kilometers) west of Mexico's Baja California. "Splashdown is confirmed!" SpaceX tweeted.

The capsule carried about 3,800 pounds (1,724 kilograms) of science experiments and equipment no longer needed aboard the station. It blasted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Sept. 21 with more than 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) of food, supplies, experiments and equipment including a prototype 3-D printer and 20 live mice that are being used in medical experiments to assess bone and muscle loss during long-duration spaceflights.

Dragon also delivered a $26 million NASA science instrument called RapidScat that was attached to the outside of the station to measure wind speeds over the oceans.

SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. resupply the space station under the terms of commercial contracts totaling $3.5 billion. Orbital is due to launch a Cygnus freighter toward the station on Monday.

First published October 25 2014, 9:54 AM

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SpaceX Dragon Comes Home After Mouse Delivery

Oct. 25 (UPI) -- The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that was residing at the International Space Station for the past month has successfully returned to Earth. It landed just over 300 miles off the coast of Mexico in the Pacific Ocean as planned.

The CRS-4/SpX-4, as it's known, launched from Cape Canaveral on September 21 and returned October 25. It carried nearly 5,000 pounds of supplies, including a 3D printer, 20 mice and two Extravehicular Mobility Unit batteries, to the station. It is returning with almost 4,000 pounds of unneeded equipment and supplies.

The 3D printer sent to the ISS was custom designed for printing in low gravity and has been used to print test parts that have been sent back with the Dragon capsule. The 20 mice are on the space station to study the "long-term effects of microgravity on mammalian physiology." The two EMU batteries, which are rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power communication devices and oxygen circulation in space suits, have already been used for two spacewalks.

The capsule also brought the ISS-RapidScat instrument to the space station, a device to monitor ocean winds to help with weather prediction, including identifying hurricanes and tropical storms. The RapidScat is a replacement to the QuikScat, which was a satellite that served the same function for 10 years until it was decommissioned in 2009.

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SpaceX Dragon returns safely from ISS, splashes into Pacfic Ocean

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[ISS] SpaceX #39;s Dragon CRS-4 Departs ISS for Re-Entry back to Earth
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[ISS] SpaceX's Dragon CRS-4 Departs ISS for Re-Entry back to Earth - Video

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