Photos: Dragon spaceship returns to port
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: May 20, 2014
Two days after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean with more than 3,500 pounds of cargo from the International Space Station, SpaceX's Dragon supply ship returned to the Port of Long Beach in Southern California on Tuesday.
The spaceship's arrival in Long Beach marks the start of the handover of cargo and experiments to NASA and a network of researchers. The Dragon spacecraft brought more than 1,600 pounds of scientific research samples and experimental cargo back to Earth, plus a spacesuit in need of repair, and water samples deemed critical for NASA to determine the root cause of a leak that filled a spacewalker's helmet with water last summer.
The Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about 300 miles west of Baja California at 3:05 p.m. EDT (1905 GMT; 12:05 p.m. PDT) Sunday, less than six hours after its departure from the space station.
Time-sensitive cargo, such as biological research samples, will be offloaded from the Dragon spacecraft in California. SpaceX will transport the capsule to its test facility in McGregor, Texas, where the rest of the cargo will be unloaded and transferred to NASA.
The SpaceX-run mission was the company's third operational resupply run to the space station under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.
See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the mission.
Photo credit: NASA
Photo credit: SpaceX
Photo credit: SpaceX
Photo credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Photo credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
Photo credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
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