Dragon Comes Home Bearing the Gift of Scientific Data
The SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down this afternoon, returning over 3,500 pounds of cargo back to Earth from the International Space Station. By completing its 3rd freighter mission, the Dragon brings the gift of over 1,600 pounds of scientific samples and hardware awaiting detailed analysis.
Launched on April 18th with the Falcon 9 rocket, the Dragon capsule brought 4,969 pounds of cargo up to the International Space Station. Between launch and splashdown, the capsule has been away for 29 days, 23 hours and 40 minutes, the longest Dragon mission yet.
Along with the usual load of fresh supplies and new hardware, two pieces of cargo from the resupply mission needed to be plucked from the Dragon using the space station’s robotic assistant, Dextre. Dextre unloaded a high-definition camera suite and an optical laster communications terminal. The equipment pair is being used to capture a high-definition footage from the space station, then stream it back to ground antenna on Earth to give all of us trapped planet-side a glimpse of the stunning view.