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Artist rendition of Dragon's re-entry. [Credit: SpaceX] Thursday morning at 8:42 AM Pacific, SpaceX's Dragon capsulesuccessfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean a couple hundredmiles west of Baja California. The capsule just returned to Earthafter spending five days at the International Space Station (ISS)on a cargo-supply and cargo-return mission. This mission was the first ever in which a commercial company'sspacecraft docked with the ISS. Additionally, according to SpaceX , the Dragon capsule is the only cargo vehicle in service which is capable ofreturning a significant amount of cargo from the ISS. By comparison, other unmanned vehicles can only deliver cargo tothe ISS and are later de-orbited in a fireball above the ocean(that is, they can't return cargo to Earth), and vehicles rated formanned spaceflight, such as the Soyuz have limited space for cargo. Dragon after being released from the ISS. [Credit: SpaceX] While docked with the ISS, astronauts onboard the ISS unloaded1,146 pounds of cargo, which included food, student experiments,and other materials. The astronauts also packed the capsule with1,455 pounds of cargo that is no longer needed on the ISS for areturn trip to Earth; this cargo will be returned to NASA. Astronauts inside the Dragon on the ISS. [Credit: SpaceX] Upon re-entry, the Dragon capsule used a heat shield to protectitself from the extreme temperatures of re-entry, and it also used Draco thrusters --small rocket engines--to bring itself to the correct landinglocation--off land and well out of populated areas. When it was asan altitude of 45,000 feet, the Dragon deployed drogue parachutes , and at 10,000 feet it deployed the 116-foot-diameter mainparachutes. Upon landing, the SpaceX picked up the Dragon using abarge and crane. What's Next? Now that SpaceX has successfully demonstrated the use of its Dragoncapsule in their second Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) launch, it will evaluate the mission. If SpaceX deems themission complete success, the company will begin a series of cargomissions to keep the ISS stocked. If not, SpaceX says that it will try again. [SpaceX ( 1 , 2 )] Follow James Mulroy on Twitter and on StumbleUpon to get the latest in microbe , dinosaur , and death ray news. Like this? You might also enjoy... Robot Camera Films Underwater, Streams Discoveries to Your iPad This Tiny Flying Robot Is Built Like a Pop-Up Book Laser-Controlled Bubble Microbots Assemble Cell Structures, WeirdUs Out Get more GeekTech: Twitter - Facebook - RSS Tip us off. I am an expert from uv-flatbed-printer.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China ECO Solvent Printer , UV Flatbed Printer, CNC Engraving Router,and more.
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