Landmark Dragon spacecraft returns safely to Earth

Paul Marks, senior technology correspondent

(Image: NASA)

A problem-free space mission that is a landmark for commercial spaceflight ended at 15.42 UTC today when the Dragon capsule slipped into the Pacific Ocean, 80 kilometres off Baja California. Dragon, made by SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, is the first commercial spacecraft ever to have docked with the International Space Station (ISS).

In a textbook splashdown, the spacecraft proved that uncrewed cargo vessels sent to the ISS can be recovered and reused. The success will kick off a series of 12 cargo missions NASA has ordered from SpaceX and will energise the company's efforts to make its space craft suitable for crewed missions. The next cargo mission for NASA is set for September.

Dragon's return leg started at 14.51 UTC today when the Dragon space freighter, having spent 5 days at the ISS, fired its thrusters in a 9-minute, 50-second long "deorbit burn". "That slowed it by 100 metres per second, which is enough to drop it out of orbit," said a NASA spokesman.

As the burn continued, anxious faces at SpaceX mission control watched screens for any signs of trouble with the volatile fuels fed to those thrusters: the two liquid fuels ignite spontaneously when mixed, needing no ignition source. That makes any leak a major problem - but there was none.

Some 20 minutes after the deorbit burn the Dragon successfully separated from its "trunk" - the rear-end Apollo-style service module that carries its solar arrays and unpressurised cargo. Unlike the Dragon capsule, this trunk is not recoverable and so will spend another year in orbit before eventually slipping into the atmosphere and burning up.

In the incandescent plasma of reentry, communications with Dragon ended temporarily. Soon after however a NASA P3 reconnaissance aircraft began detecting infrared imagery showing that Dragon was on target, where it remained until it was in visual range of chase planes.?

These caught the craft on camera as its descended, showing it opening its small drogue parachutes a minute ahead of its main parachutes. "Chutes are good," said Don Pettit, ISS astronaut, monitoring the descent from orbit. "That's good news."

A recovery vessel from American Marine Corp waited nearby to hoist the Dragon capsule, containing a return cargo from the ISS, onto its deck. All other ISS cargo vessels - the Russian Progress, European ATV and Japanese HTV - have no "down-mass" capability. Instead, they are filled with trash and burned up.

Though SpaceX is well known for making almost all its own rocket parts - its overarching business model is to eschew contractors - the splashdown 'chutes are not among them. "We do buy in parachutes and stuff like nuts and bolts," said a SpaceX spokeswoman.

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