Tag: Baja California

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at about 7:44 p.m. EST 259 miles southwest of Long Beach, California, marking the end of the company’s fifth contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.

The spacecraft is returning about 3,700 pounds of NASA cargo and science samples from the International Space Station. A SpaceX vessel will take the Dragon spacecraft to Long Beach, where some cargo will be removed and returned to NASA. Dragon will be prepared for a return journey to SpaceX’s test facility in McGregor, Texas, for processing.

The mission was the fifth of 12 cargo resupply trips SpaceX will make to the space station through 2016 under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

Dragon conducted its deorbit burn on time at 5:49pm Central time, 6:49pm Eastern time and is headed for its parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific some 259 statute miles southwest of Long Beach, California. Splashdown time remains approximately 6:44pm Central time, 7:44pm Eastern time (4:44pm at the splashdown site, about 2 hours, 4 minutes before sunset).

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft was released from the International Space Station’s robotic arm at 2:10 p.m. EST. The capsule was maneuvered outside the vicinity of the space station in preparation for its return trip to Earth. The capsule is currently scheduled to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at about 7:44 p.m., 259 miles southwest of Long Beach, California.

Robotics controllers on the ground removed the SpaceX Dragon from the Harmony node Tuesday morning after they finished packing it full of critical research and gear Monday. Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, backed up by Flight Engineer Terry Virts, commanded the Canadarm2 to release Dragon.

Cristoforetti also worked on orbital plumbing during the day before heading to the cupola for the release. Earlier, Commander Butch Wilmore and Virts demated the jumper cables and depressurized the vestibule which is the interface between Harmony and Dragon. The NASA astronauts also had time set aside to organize tools ahead of three spacewalks to install cables the first of which is set to begin Feb. 20.

The cosmonauts continued their work conducting Russian science and stowing trash and gear inside the ISS Progress 57 (57P) resupply ship.