SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on its way back to Earth

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is on its way back to Earth today, after spending over three weeks docked with the International Space Station on a cargo run.

The capsule was released by the Canadarm2 at 6:56 a.m. EDT, and is expected to make a few swings around the Earth before it enters the atmosphere and splashes down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:34 p.m. EDT.

"It looks beautiful from here," said ISS flight engineer Thomas Marshburn, as he communicated with Mission Control in Houston as Dragon headed away from the station.

"Sad to see the Dragon go. Performed her job beautifully, heading back to her lair. Wish her all the best for the splashdown today," he added.

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The spacecraft had suffered a malfunction in its engine pods on the way up, on March 1st. A flawless launch on board the Falcon 9 rocket delivered it into low-Earth orbit, but once there, its own engine pods would not activate. This delayed the deploying of its solar panels, and put the mission in jeopardy, however the SpaceX crews on the ground were able to get the engine pods back online in short order. This delayed docking with the ISS by a day, as it arrived early on Sunday morning rather than Saturday morning.

The mission suffered a second delay as the astronauts were loading the capsule for its return to Earth, but this time it was due to something beyond anyone's control. Bad weather in the area of its Pacific Ocean splashdown zone forced yesterday's scheduled departure to be postponed until today.

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The capsule is returning to Earth with over 1,200 kg of "science samples from human research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities," says a NASA statement.

"Experiment samples coming back to Earth will help researchers continue to assess the impact of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. Returning plant samples will aid in food production during future long-duration space missions and enhance crop production on Earth. Crystals grown aboard and returning from the station could help in the development of more efficient solar cells and semiconductor-based electronics."

This is Dragon's third mission to the ISS, having completed a test run back in May of 2012, and then its first cargo run to the ISS in October.

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