The SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule said goodbye to the International Space Station Sunday afternoon and re-entered Earth's atmosphere before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
The unpiloted craft undocked from the space station after 9 a.m. Sunday morning to begin its trip to a parachute landing about 300 miles west of Baja California at 3:02 p.m. EDT Sunday. The capsule had a 10-minute deorbit burn to send it Earthward. It splashed down at about 3:06 p.m. EDT.
The cargo craft lifted off from Cape Canaveral about a month ago, taking supplies to the ISS and its crew of three. It returned with more than 3,500 pounds of science samples for analysis, plus equipment no longer needed on the space station.
Earlier in the day, astronaut Steve Swanson radioed his appreciation for the capsule's role in supplying the space station with supplies and its ability to return to Earth for reuse.
"Thanks to everybody who worked this Dragon mission," Swanson said. "It went very well, and I appreciate that tremendously. It's also very nice to have a vehicle that can take your science equipment, and maybe some day even humans, back to Earth. Thank you all."
The Dragon is the only supply capsule that can be used to ferry supplies to and from the International Space Station. Other supply vessels either burn up on re-entry or are too small to ferry more than a few human occupants and a limited amount of supplies, such as is the case with the Soyuz craft used by the Russians.
A recovery ship will retrieve the capsule and take it to port in California. It had arrived at the space station on April 20, with a delivery of food, supplies and science experiments for the crew. In addition, it also carried a pair of legs for the experimental humanoid robot aboard and a new high-definition video camera.
The mission was the third of 12 of SpaceX's $1.6 billion contract with NASA for space station cargo runs. The company also is competing against Boeing and the privately owned Sierra Nevada Corp. for a related NASA project to develop a way to take astronauts to and from the space station.