PHOTOS: Dragon capsule returns to port

A day after it returned to Earth from the International Space Station, SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft arrived at the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday night aboard a ship contracted to retrieve the capsule from the Pacific Ocean.

The American Islander sailed into port before sunset Wednesday, and workers unloaded several critical experiment samples from the Dragon spacecraft's internal cabin for immediate transportation to Houston for analysis.

The Dragon spacecraft will be shipped to SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas, for further safing and unloading of the rest of its nearly 2,700 pounds of cargo.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the mission.

Photo credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News