The cargo ship SpaceX Dragon, loaded with scientific experiments, a case of wine and live mice, has made its first collision in the Atlantic Ocean, NASA confirmed.
The spacecraft was autonomously unlocked from the International Space Station on Tuesday, January 12 after a 36-day stay connected to the orbiting laboratory.
Among the experiments on the ship are a box of Bordeaux wine, live mice and 3D-printed buds that could one day produce human organs from stem cells.
In all, there were 4,400 pounds of scientific research and other merchandise that fell in the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of Florida at 1:30 GMT this morning.
This photo provided by NASA shows the SpaceX dragon docking from the International Space Station on Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Previous SpaceX dragon cargo missions ended with a parachute crash into the Pacific, but this new version of the spacecraft is designed to land closer to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This is where the space agency processes scientific experiments conducted aboard the ISS, so it splashed in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.
SpaceX Dragon is designed to be a reusable spacecraft that can deliver equipment and cargo safely to the ISS, as well as return scientific experiments to Earth.
“The up-to-date cargo dragon capsule used for this mission contains twice the availability of powered lockers than previous capsules, allowing for a significant increase in research that can be returned to scientists,” NASA said. .
“Some scientists will receive their research quickly, four to nine hours after the fall.”
This is the first time space station science experiments have been able to return to Florida since the Space Shuttle ceased operations in 2011.
This image shows part of the cargo that was loaded onto the Dragon ship when it first flew to the ISS last year. It may contain more in cold storage than the original Dragon
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins puts next to storage the SpaceX CRS-9 Dragon Dragon spacecraft in 2016. The new cargo spacecraft has a more powered box office space, allowing for an extra cold summer
To return to Earth, the experiments had to travel by capsule, helicopter, ship, plane, and car before returning to the researchers who designed them.
“I’m excited to finally see the science come back here because we can bring these time-sensitive experiments faster than ever to the lab,” says Jennifer Wahlberg, project manager for the Kennedy Space Center.
“Sending science into space and getting it back on track was definitely something of the shuttle days that we’re really proud of and being able to rejoin that process is fantastic.”
As the spacecraft returns to Earth, experiments begin to experience the effects of gravity again, NASA explained in a blog post.
There is quite a process to bring floating capsule experiments back to universities, companies and other institutions.
NASA described the process as saying, “After a SpaceX spacecraft pulls the capsule out of the water, a waiting team takes critical science of the spacecraft’s time and loads it into a waiting helicopter.
“The helicopter will deliver this science ashore a few hours after the crash. The rest of the scientific cargo will return with a second helicopter cargo or stay aboard the ship and retreat to port.”
The helicopter will land the experiments at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), which was previously used for space shuttle return activities.
A team will then move most of the cargo to the Kennedy Space Center (SSPF) space station processing facility by truck, where the scientific teams will be waiting.
“We’re going to have a parade of researchers ready at the Kennedy Space Center waiting to receive samples,” said Mary Walsh, chief flight officer of the Kennedy Research Integration Office.
The spacecraft left the International Space Station on Tuesday and after some delays finally dropped the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean this morning.
There are many things involved in returning scientific experiments to scientists, this includes shipping by boat, helicopter and car.
Traditionally used to prepare experiments for space launch, the SSPF houses world-class laboratories that provide the tools and workspace to immediately take data and analyze samples, the space agency explained.
“Scientists will take a quick look at initial results and then send them to their home bases,” Wahlberg says.
“The advantage of being able to observe science before is the ability to deny any gravitational effect on research after it has been in space.”
From the Kennedy Space Center, scientific samples and experiments will be directed around the world in California, Texas, Massachusetts, Japan and more.
The sheer amount of science returning to Earth in this mission is possible thanks to upgrades to the Dragon-loaded SpaceX spacecraft, which has twice the capacity of powered ticket offices as the company’s previous capsules.
The rodent research hardware system is an experiment that returns to Earth: it includes three modules: habitat (left), transporter (central) and animal access unit (right)
Another experiment saw a case of wine sent to the ISS to age in orbit more than a year: it will be tasted in February and studied for changes in the contents of the bubbles.
On the way back, it can withstand up to 12 powered lockers, allowing for the transport of more cold load and energy for additional payloads.
The old capsule was like a donut filled with cream. You packed it all around the walls and in the middle we put a big pile of giant bags, ”Walsh said.
“This updated cargo dragon looks more like a three-story house. You put things in the basement, then you pack this second story, then you go upstairs and do the third story. So it’s really different from the point of view of the design.
The next Dragon SpaceX cargo mission will be in May, and the crew capsule of the crew currently docked with the space station is due to return its four-person crew in May.
Earlier, another spacecraft from the Dragon crew will launch in March to send four more astronauts into orbiting the lab.