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A SpaceX Dragon cargo refueling spacecraft returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Wednesday, January 13, crashing off the coast of Florida for the first time.
The Dragon CRS-21 mission, SpaceX space station’s 21st cargo delivery to NASA, launched on December 6, 2020 with 6,400 pounds. (2,903 kilograms) of scientific supplies and equipment for the seven-person crew of Expedition 64. After a one-day delay due to bad weather in the projection area, the upgraded vehicle undocked from the space station autonomously for the first time on Tuesday (January 12), and it splashed west of Tampa about 35 hours later, at 8:26 p.m. EST on Wednesday, January 13 (0126 January 14 GMT).
While previous Dragon cargo missions ended with parachute-assisted splashing in the Pacific, the new and improved version of SpaceX’s cargo ship is designed to land in the Atlantic Ocean, closer to the science processing center at Kennedy Space Center. from NASA in Florida.
Related: SpaceX’s first upgraded Dragon cargo ship stops at the space station with science, goodies and a new airlock
The CRS-21 mission was not only the first to land near Florida, it was also the first to autonomously dock and detach from the International Space Station. Previous cargo dragons relied on astronauts who used the station’s robotic arm Canadarm2 to grab the spacecraft and dock it with the orbiting lab.
Other space cargo delivery vehicles, such as Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft and Japan’s H-II transfer vehicle, are intentionally destroyed at the end of their missions; space station astronauts fill the capsules with trash, then use Canadarm2 to send them to Earth, and they burn safely in the atmosphere. SpaceX’s Dragon, however, is a reusable spacecraft designed to safely deliver science experiments to Earth from the space station. The Dragon CRS-21 mission returned with over 4,400 pounds. (2,000 kg) of “valuable scientific experiments and other cargo,” NASA officials said in a statement.
“The upgraded Dragon cargo capsule used for this mission contains double the availability of motorized lockers from previous capsules, allowing for a significant increase in research that can be referred back to scientists,” added NASA. “Some scientists will see their research come back quickly, four to nine hours after the splash.”
Part of the scientific cargo on board includes modified heart tissue, organoids from human stem cells, biofilms that can corrode stainless steel, zero g optical fibers, etc.
SpaceX plans to launch its next Dragon cargo resupply mission, CRS-22, in May of this year. The company’s Crew Dragon capsule is currently docked at the space station and is also expected to return to Earth with its crew of four in May. Dragon’s next launch will be another Crew Dragon, which is slated to launch the Crew-2 mission along with four other astronauts in March.
Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @hannekescience. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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