A nearly month-long delivery mission to the International Space Station ends with the successful re-entry of SpaceX's Dragon Capsule. The Dragon Cargo was able to fully detach from the station's robotic arms on Jan. 13 and found its way to the Pacific Ocean.
Three departure burns moved the Dragon Capsule away from the station flawlessly. SpaceX then announced that the drogue chutes and main parachutes were deployed without a hitch. "Good splashdown of Dragon confirmed, completing the second resupply mission to and from the @Space_Station with a flight-proven commercial spacecraft," SpaceX confirmed on Twitter.
The Dragon Capsule contained "4,100 pounds of scientific research" to be analyzed by The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA.
The Dragon Capsule is a "free-flying spacecraft" that is able to transport cargo and personnel from Earth to the International Space Station. The first success story of the Dragon is back in 2012 when the port completed its delivery mission to the Space Station and managed to return to Earth intact.
The Dragon has a total launch payload mass of 6,000 kg or 13,228 lbs. Its total return payload mass is 3,000 kg or 6,614 lbs. The Dragon can also survive and maintain its function in orbit for two years straight. SpaceX will also mark a new milestone today with Falcon Heavy scheduled to be tested at 4 p.m. at the Kennedy Space Center in the state of Florida. The company helmed by inventor Elon Musk is hoping for another successful story.
The Falcon Heavy is dubbed as "The World's Most Powerful Rocket" by SpaceX. The Falcon Heavy's strength is capable of supporting 54 metric tons or 119,000 lbs. SpaceX crews already fueled the rock for the critical test. The static fire test will commence at 4 p.m. today. Falcon Heavy's standard payment plan is valued at $90 million and the Falcon 9 at $62 million.
