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SpaceX’s Dragon cargo supply spacecraft detached itself from the International Space Station, filled with science experiments after a month in the orbiting lab.
The capsule, carrying 4,600 pounds. (2,900 kilograms) of material to be returned to Earth, undocked at 9:12 a.m. EDT (1:12 p.m. GMT) Thursday, September 30 as the station traveled over the Pacific Ocean. Nasa astronaut Shane Kimbrough watched from inside the International space stationthe capsule dome, controlled by ground controllers at EspaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., detached itself from the station’s Harmony module and fired its thrusters.
“I would like to warmly thank SpaceX and the NASA teams for delivering this vehicle to us in great shape, with a lot of science and surprise for the ISS,” Kimbrough said during a NASA livestream. “The activities associated with SpaceX 23 have kept our crew busy for the past month. We look forward to hearing the results of the payloads we have interacted with. Have a safe trip back to Earth.”
The capsule then moved to a safe distance from the station and performed a series of burns, which sent it to Earth.
Related: 3 astronauts move Soyuz to the new space station dock before the arrival of the film crew
The spacecraft will make landfall off the coast of Florida around 11:00 p.m. EDT (03:00 GMT on October 1). The capsule will then be transported to the NASA space station processing facility at Kennedy Space Center, which is located a short distance from the landing site.
This short distance is particularly important for this shipment, because the capsule transports microgravity experiences that could be affected if exposed to the planet’s gravity in an unprotected environment for a longer period of time, NASA officials wrote in a report.
Many experiments are biomedical, some of which focus on the course of degenerative diseases such as Azheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and type 2 diabetes, as well as others on muscle atrophy and the expression of genes in space.
Investigators will perform a rapid initial assessment of biological samples upon arrival at the processing facility before exposure to gravity affects the results. Then the researchers will carry out more in-depth analyzes in their home laboratories.
The originally Dragon spacecraft had been docked at the space station since August 30. The capsule, launched Aug. 29 from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A, was SpaceX’s 23rd Commercial Resupply Services mission.
The next Dragon freighter bound for the space station is currently targeting a launch in early December. The Harmony module mooring port occupied by the CRS-23 capsule will then be visited by the next Crew Dragon 3 mission this fall.
Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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