{"id":14481,"date":"2017-07-04T00:38:34","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T16:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/dragon-capsule-returns-home-with-animals-and-station-equipment\/"},"modified":"2017-07-04T00:38:34","modified_gmt":"2017-07-03T16:38:34","slug":"dragon-capsule-returns-home-with-animals-and-station-equipment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/dragon-capsule-returns-home-with-animals-and-station-equipment\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragon capsule returns home with animals and station equipment"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_25802\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25802\" style=\"width: 675px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-25802\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/19665420_10159474915090131_6072301451935133746_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"675\" height=\"1013\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/19665420_10159474915090131_6072301451935133746_n.jpg 640w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/19665420_10159474915090131_6072301451935133746_n-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/19665420_10159474915090131_6072301451935133746_n-20x30.jpg 20w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25802\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Dragon spacecraft was lifted onto a boat for a trip back to port in Southern California following Monday\u2019s predawn splashdown. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s Dragon spaceship, carrying more than 4,100 pounds of cargo and research specimens, descended to a predawn splashdown Monday in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles, completing the first re-flight of one of SpaceX\u2019s unpiloted supply ships to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n<p>Completing a four-week stay at the space station, the Dragon cargo capsule departed the research outpost Monday at 2:41 a.m. EDT (0641 GMT), when astronaut Jack Fischer commanded the station\u2019s robotic arm to release the spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>Launched June 3 from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, the automated logistics carrier delivered nearly 6,000 pounds of equipment and research hardware to the space station.<\/p>\n<p>The capsule made its second trip to the orbiting complex. SpaceX refurbished the craft following its first mission in September and October 2014.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDragon\u2019s been an incredible spacecraft,\u201d Fischer radioed mission control a few minutes after Dragon left the space station. \u201cI could even say it was slathered in awesome sauce. This baby had almost no problems, which is an incredible feat considering its the first reuse of a Dragon vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Items stowed for Dragon\u2019s return included live mice from an experiment to investigate the effectiveness of a therapeutic drug to promote bone growth, combating atrophy in astronauts in space and osteoporosis patients on Earth. The mice will be euthanized and examined after landing.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/224059553\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of the 6,000 pounds of cargo carried was science, and almost all the return cargo are precious samples for discoveries we can\u2019t wait to see,\u201d Fischer said. \u201cIn addition, Dragon brought up a host of external experiments. We\u2019ve added an external platform for science, a neutron star analyzer and a new solar array that rolled out like a party horn on New Year\u2019s Eve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dragon\u2019s homecoming was pushed back a day because of rough seas in the splashdown zone around 260 miles (420 kilometers) southwest of Long Beach, California.<\/p>\n<p>Under the control of SpaceX engineers in Hawthorne, California, the Dragon capsule fired its thrusters in three pulses to fly a safe distance away from the space station. A few hours later, the supply freighter braked out of orbit with another rocket firing, jettisoned its disposable unpressurized trunk and service module, then plunged into Earth\u2019s atmosphere for a searing re-entry.<\/p>\n<p>Soaring southwest to northeast, the capsule deployed two drogue parachutes and three main chutes before splashing down, SpaceX tweeted at 8:14 a.m. EDT (1214 GMT; 5:14 a.m. PDT).<\/p>\n<p>The return marked the first time a Dragon capsule has splashed down at night. Fischer captured a view of the plasma trail behind the Dragon spacecraft during re-entry as the space station sailed overhead.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25805\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25805\" style=\"width: 675px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-25805\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DDz5s2bU0AEhwKo-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"675\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DDz5s2bU0AEhwKo-2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DDz5s2bU0AEhwKo-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DDz5s2bU0AEhwKo-2-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DDz5s2bU0AEhwKo-2-678x451.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DDz5s2bU0AEhwKo-2-30x20.jpg 30w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25805\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cBeautiful expanse of stars \u2014 but the \u201clong\u201d orange one is SpaceX-11 reentering! Congrats team for a successful splashdown &amp; great mission!\u201d astronaut Jack Fischer tweeted from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA\/Jack Fischer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A SpaceX recovery team hoisted the craft onto a boat for a two-day trip to the Port of Los Angeles, where time-sensitive cargo and scientific samples will be handed over to NASA and research teams.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX replaced the heat shield and other parts of the capsule after its 2014 flight, but officials said the primary structure, propulsion system and sections were original articles.<\/p>\n<p>Monday\u2019s splashdown concluded SpaceX\u2019s 11th resupply mission to the space station. Including flights already accomplished, SpaceX has contracts with NASA for at least 26 cargo flights to the orbital research lab through 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s 12th cargo mission is set for launch Aug. 10 from the Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dragon spacecraft was lifted onto a boat for a trip back to port in Southern California following Monday\u2019s predawn splashdown. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX\u2019s Dragon spaceship, carrying more than 4,100 pounds of cargo and research specimens, descended to a predawn splashdown Monday in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles, completing the first re-flight of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[291,1395,3193,717,1602,3195,316,3113],"class_list":["post-14481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-dragon","tag-expedition-52","tag-international-space-station","tag-iss-cargo","tag-jack-fischer","tag-spacex","tag-spacex-11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14481\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}