CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. ¨C A SpaceX Dragon capsule headed back to Earth on Wednesday, filled with more than 1,678 kilograms (3,700 pounds) of experiment results and cargo from the International Space Station, a NASA TV broadcast showed.
It was the first return load from the station in a year, following a SpaceX launch accident in June 2015 that destroyed another Dragon capsule.
The company¡¯s Dragon capsules are currently the only ships that can return cargo from the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.
SpaceX resumed Dragon flights to the station last month.
On Wednesday, ground controllers at NASA¡¯s Johnson Space Center in Houston used the station¡¯s robot arm to pluck the unmanned capsule from its berthing port at 7:02 a.m. and position it for release into space.
British astronaut Timothy Peake, working from inside the space station¡¯s cupola module, then commanded the crane to free its grip at 9:19 a.m. as the station sailed over Australia so Dragon could begin its ride back to Earth.
¡°Dragon spacecraft has served us well. It¡¯s good to see it departing full of science and we wish it a safe recovery back on planet Earth,¡± Peake radioed to Mission Control in Houston.
Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California is expected at 2:55 p.m.
Dragon¡¯s returning cargo includes blood and urine samples from the one-year mission of former U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. The men returned to Earth March 1.
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