News Digest

Splashdown: SpaceX’s Dragon spaceship returns to Earth with lab results

SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Saturday carrying a heavy load of NASA cargo and scientific samples from the International Space Station that experts hope could yield significant results. A boat was ferrying the spacecraft to a port near Los Angeles, where NASA said the haul of 1.5 tonnes of experiment results and other materials will be removed and returned to the space agency by Monday for scientists to pick apart. Dragon also carried crew supplies, hardware and computer resources.

This mission enabled research critical to achieving NASA’s goal of long-duration human spaceflight in deep space.

Sam Scimemi, director of the International Space Station division at NASA headquarters

The investigations in the cargo could help develop more efficient solar cells and semiconductor-based electronics, as well as grow plants better suited for space and improve sustainable agriculture, according to NASA. Dragon, which spent a month at the space station, will later travel back for processing to SpaceX’s test facility in McGregor, Texas. The SpaceX vessel is the only spacecraft currently capable of returning from the ISS with cargo. Its last mission to the space station was in April. Then it delivered cargo including freeze-dried meals, 20 live lab mice and a 3D printer, in its fourth contracted mission to the ISS.