The International Space Station is seen as the Dragon cargo ship backs away from it to begin its journey back to Earth. The image is from NASA TV.
A cargo ship is on its way back to Earth.
After just over a month on the International Space Station, the uncrewed Dragon CRS-24 ship returned to Earth on Sunday. The spaceship, carrying more than 2 tons of gear, left the station at 10:40 a.m. There was a two-day delay due to landing site weather. The craft is going to splash down off Florida's western coast on Monday.
"Dragon separation confirmed," Tom Marshburn radioed from the station. The station was sailing high above the South Pacific Ocean.
There are live updates from the International Space Station.
The cargo ship is scheduled to land in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida at 4:05 pm. NASA officials said that the landing will not be broadcast. More than 4,900 pounds of science experiment results and other station gear are on their way back to Earth.
"Expedition 66 wishes the Dragon well on its return," Marshburn told Mission Control on behalf of the station's current crew. I would like to congratulate Houston and SpaceX. Can't wait to see what happens.
More than 6,500 pounds of supplies, science gear and other hardware were delivered by the Dragon CRS-24 cargo ship. The station crew received some Christmas treats when it arrived at the station.
The space station has been visited by the Dragon craft before. It was used to deliver cargo for NASA. The capsule will be retrieved with recovery ships and delivered to NASA.
Science results are included in some of the cargo returning to Earth. The results of a study called "Cytoskeleton" are in the capsule and could one day help astronauts on long-duration space missions. The results of InSpace-4 may help scientists develop new ways to use nanoparticles to build new materials for spaceflight.
A close-up of the cargo ship that left the International Space Station. The image is from NASA TV.
The Light Microscopy Module, or LMM, a once state-of-the-art imaging microscope that has been aboard the space station since 2009, is going back to Earth. It is retired from service.
NASA's Biological and Physical Sciences division sponsored the diagnostic tool that enabled novel research of microscopic phenomena in microgravity, providing the capability to remotely acquire and download images and videos at many levels of magnification. It was possible to observe and record the way matter is organized.
You will be able to follow the Dragon CRS-24 cargo ship's descent and splashdown on the internet, even though NASA won't broadcast it. On its space station blog, NASA will post updates on the return of the craft. The results of the splashdown are expected to be posted on the company's website.
You can email him at tmalik@space.com. We encourage you to follow us on social media.
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