NASA has confirmed that the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship full of scientific experiments, a suitcase of wine and live mice, was first splashed in the Atlantic Ocean.
The spacecraft automatically unlocked from the International Space Station on Tuesday, January 12, after a 36-day stay attached to the orbital laboratory.
Among the experiments on the ship are a crate of Bordeaux wine, live mice and 3D-printed buttons that could one day produce human organs from stem cells.
In total, there was scientific research and other cargo splashing in the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of Florida this morning at 01:30 GMT.
In this photo provided by NASA, SpaceX’s Dragon will be disconnected from the International Space Station on Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Previous SpaceX dragon cargo missions have been completed with a parachute-assisted splash in the Pacific Ocean, but this new version of the spaceship is designed to land closer to the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This is where the space agency conducts scientific experiments aboard the ISS – it splashed in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.
SpaceX Dragon is designed to be a reusable spacecraft that can safely deliver equipment and cargo to the ISS, as well as bring scientific experiments back to Earth.
“The upgraded Dragon capsule used for this mission contains the dual availability of the previous powered cabinet capsules, allowing for a significant increase in research that can be returned to scientists,” NASA said.
“Some scientists will return their research quickly, four to nine hours after it is splashed.”
This is the first time that scientific experiments of the space station can return via Florida since the spacecraft was stopped in 2011.
This image shows the cargo loaded on the Dragon ship when it was on its way to the ISS for the first time last year. It can hold more in cold rooms than the original Dragon
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins poses next to the storage space in the SpaceX CRS-9 cargo Dragon spacecraft in 2016. The new cargo spacecraft has more powered cargo space, allowing additional cold storage space
To return to Earth, the experiments had to travel by capsule, helicopter, boat, plane, and car before returning to the researchers who designed them.
“I’m excited to finally see science return here, because we can get these time-sensitive experiments in the lab faster than ever,” said Jennifer Wahlberg, project manager at the Kennedy Space Center.
“Sending science up into space and getting it back on the runway was definitely something in the commute days we were very proud of, and it’s great to be back in that process.”
As the spacecraft returns to Earth, the experiments begin to experience the effects of gravity again, NASA explained in a blog post.
There is quite a process of getting the experiments of the floating capsule back to universities, companies and other institutions.
NASA described the process, saying: ‘After a SpaceX boat took the capsule out of the water, a waiting team retrieved time-critical science from the spacecraft and loaded it onto a guard helicopter.
‘The helicopter will deliver this science ashore a few hours after the splash. Any remaining scientific cargo will return in a second helicopter load or remain on board the boat and be removed in port. ‘
The helicopter will land the experiments at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), which was previously used for the return of spacecraft.
Then a team by truck will transport most cargo to the Kennedy Space Center Processing Facility (SSPF), where science teams will wait.
“We’re going to have a parade of scientists ready in the Kennedy Space Center waiting to receive samples,” said Mary Walsh, a flight director from the Office of Research Integration.
The spaceship left the International Space Station on Tuesday and, after a few delays, finally splashed the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean this morning.
There is a lot involved in returning scientific experiments to scientists, this includes sending them by boat, helicopter and car
The SSPF is traditionally used to prepare experiments for launch into space, and is home to world-class laboratories that provide the tools and workspace to instantly take data and analyze samples, the space agency explained.
“The scientists will look quickly to get initial results and then send them back to their home base,” says Wahlberg.
“The advantage of being able to observe science earlier is the ability to deny any gravitational effects on the research after it has been in space.”
From the center at Kennedy Space Center, the scientific monsters and experiments around the world will be on their way to California, Texas, Massachusetts, Japan and more.
The vast amount of science returning to Earth on this mission is possible thanks to upgrades to the SpaceX cargo Dragon spacecraft, which doubles the ability to have the wardrobe of the company’s previous capsules.
The Rodent Hardware System is one experiment that returns to Earth – it contains three modules: (left) habitat, (middle) transporter and (right) animal access unit
Another experiment sees a case of wine being sent to the ISS to age for more than a year in orbit – it is being tasted in February and studied for changes in bubble content.
On return, it can support up to 12 powered lockers, allowing for the transport of more cold cargo and power for additional payloads.
The old capsule was like a cream-filled donut. “You packed everything around the walls and then put a big giant pile of bags in the middle,” Walsh said.
‘This upgraded cargo Dragon is more like a three-story house. You sit well in the basement, then you pack that second story, then you go upstairs and pack the third story. So it’s really different from a design perspective. ‘
The next SpaceX Dragon cargo mission will be in May, and the crew Dragon capsule currently attached to the space station will return its four-person crew in May.
Before that, another crew launches Dragon spaceship in March to send four more astronauts to the orbital laboratory.