A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship returned to Earth with an ocean descent on Saturday (August 20), carrying tons of scientific equipment from the International Space Station.
The uncrewed Dragon space capsule splashed off the coast of Florida on time at 2:53 p.m. EDT (1953 GMT) after just over a month on the space station.
“Dragon landing confirmed, completing SpaceX’s 25th cargo resupply mission to the space station,” SpaceX wrote in a mission update on Twitter (opens in new tab) today. The company did not provide live views or images of the spacecraft’s fall.
“After Dragon is retrieved by the SpaceX recovery team, critical science aboard the spacecraft will be transported by helicopter to [NASA’s Kennedy Space Center] and made available to researchers,” the company added (opens in new tab) in a second Twitter post.
SpaceX launched Dragon’s SpaceX-25 mission from KSC on July 14, with the spacecraft arriving at the station two days later. It delivered 5,800 pounds (2,630 kilograms) of science experiments, crew supplies, and other critical cargo to the station.
On Friday, the Dragon spacecraft undocked from the space station, preparing to return to Earth on Saturday with about 4,000 pounds (1,815 kg) of science equipment. This cargo included the results of countless experiments on the station that would be delivered to eager scientists.
SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon capsules are unmanned versions of the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and are designed to carry supplies to and from the International Space Station under a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA. SpaceX is one of two US companies currently flying resupply missions to the station (Northrop Grumman is the other with the Cygnus spacecraft), with Sierra Nevada Space Systems also selected to provide similar services to NASA with the planned Dream Chaser spacecraft.
Russia’s robotic Progress spacecraft also flies regular cargo delivery missions, with the European Space Agency and Japan also flying their own cargo ships in the past.
The space station is currently home to seven astronauts who make up the crew of Expedition 67. The crew includes three Americans, three Russians and one European. SpaceX launched four of these Crew Dragon astronauts as part of its Crew-4 mission for NASA.
SpaceX will launch NASA’s next crew to the space station, called Crew-5, in September.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
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