Spacex Crs 4 Mission Ends With A Splashdown In The Pacific Ocean

SpaceX's Dragon cargo craft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 3:39 p.m. EDT on Saturday, a few hundred miles west of Baja California, Mexico, marking the end of the company's fourth contracted cargo resupply mission (CRS-4) to the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft was released from the ISS robotic arm at 9:57 a.m. EDT. The capsule than started a series of departure burns and maneuvers to move beyond the 656-foot (200-meter) "keep out sphere" around the station and began its return trip to Earth. "Splashdown is confirmed! Dragon landed in the Pacific Ocean at approximately 12:38pm PDT," SpaceX said in a statement.The spacecraft returned to Earth 3,276 pounds of NASA cargo and science samples from the ISS. A boat has taken the Dragon to a port near Los Angeles, where some cargo will be removed and returned to NASA within 48 hours. Dragon will be prepared for a return journey to SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas, for processing.The Dragon arrived to the space station Sept. 23 after a Sept. 21 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida carrying almost 5,000 pounds of supplies and elements to support 255 scientific investigations the crew members of Expeditions 41 and 42 will conduct.The spacecraft also delivered experiments and equipment, including a prototype 3D printer and 20 live mice that will be used in medical experiments to assess bone and muscle loss during long-duration space flights and a 26 million NASA science instrument called RapidScat. The instrument was attached to the outside of the station to measure wind speeds over the oceans.NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore used the station's robotic crane to release the capsule at 9:57 a.m. EDT as the ISS soared 260 miles (418 km) over the northwest coast of Australia. "Dragon is free," mission commentator Rob Navias said during a live broadcast on NASA TV. Next, the capsule made a parachute descent into the Pacific Ocean.The mission was the fourth of 12 cargo resupply trips SpaceX will make to the space station through 2016 under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract.SpaceX's next resupply mission to the station is targeted for Dec. 9. On Monday, NASA's second station cargo shipper, Orbital Sciences Corp, is slated to launch its Antares rocket and Cygnus freighter from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. EDT.Credit: NASA, reuters.com