Space x return

The Write Stuff

SpaceX, NASA getting ready for Dragon return
Posted: 30 May 2012 11:50 AM PDT
The final tricky step for the first private spacecraft to visit the International Space Station is next: coming back to Earth.

NASA expects the SpaceX Dragon capsule, now fully loaded with return cargo, to disembark from the space station shortly after 4 a.m. ET Friday and splash down in the Pacific Ocean a few hundred miles southwest of Los Angeles at 11:44 a.m. ET.

Dragon launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 22, and on May 25 became the first private spacecraft to dock with the space station. It brought up about a half-ton of supplies, and is returning with about a half-ton of return items.

NASA TVwill broadcast both the disembark and splashdown milestones, and some of the in-between events such as atmosphere reentry, live.

But it’ll be SpaceX’s show.

As soon as the spacecraft has cleared the space station’s vicinity, meaning about a mile away, NASA signs off, SpaceX is fully in control, and “That is the end of the integrated operation portion,” NASA flight director Holly Ridings said in a press briefing Thursday.

That will happen roughly 11 minutes after the station’s robotic arm pulls Dragon off its perch on the Harmony Module.

Dragon will then orbit, re-enter the atmosphere and eventually parachute into the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX will track it through a variety of means, with three contract ships ready to respond in the recovery zone, which is roughly 490 nautical miles west-southwest of Los Angeles. The ships will launch speedboats to meet and secure Dragon, then the main ship will lift it out of the water with a crane.

It’ll be about a two-day journey from there back to Los Angeles. At that point, SpaceX intends to open the hatch and remove some time-sensitive items — Ridings was unclear exactly what that might entail. Then the Dragon will be flown (by plane) to Texas where SpaceX will finish unloading.






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