SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship is on its way back to Earth with scientific investigations and medical research
SpaceX's unmanned Dragon cargo ship successfully undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) Sunday morning and is making its return to Earth.
The CRS-24 cargo ship successfully exited the Space Station's "keep out sphere" at 10:40 a.m. after a previously scheduled attempt was postponed due to bad weather at its splashdown location off the Florida coast, according to statements from SpaceX. The keep out sphere is a 200-meter radius around the ISS.
NASA transmitted the undocking live on NASA TV and on its social media platforms.
The Dragon is expected to have a "parachute-assisted splashdown" off the coast of Panama City, Florida at approximately 3:05 p.m CST Monday, according to NASA. The splashdown will not be transmitted live, but NASA's space station blog will provide updates.
The experiments on board the Dragon will be transported to NASA's Space Station Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center after landing.
"Splashing down off the coast of Florida enables quick transportation of the experiments to NASA's Space Station Processing Facility at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, allowing researchers to collect data with minimal sample exposure to Earth's gravity," NASA said.
The cargo ship is bringing back medical supplies along with more than 4,900 pounds of valuable "cargo and research," NASA's mission control said during its transmission.
This includes a retired light imaging microscope, which has been supporting numerous scientific investigations for 12 years, as well as samples from studies on colloids.
Cytoskeleton, an investigation to analyze the impact of microgravity on cellular signaling molecules, is also onboard the Dragon.
"This investigation contributes to our understanding of how the human body responds to microgravity and could support development of countermeasures to help crew members maintain optimum health on future missions," NASA said.
The Dragon launched on Dec. 21, delivering hardware, research, and crew supplies to the ISS. The cargo ship's return will mark SpaceX's 24th "commercial resupply services mission for NASA," according to the space research agency.
RISKIN REPORTS
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Online diary: Buffalo gunman plotted attack for months
The white gunman accused of massacring 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket wrote as far back as November about staging a livestreamed attack on African Americans.

Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre denounces 'white replacement theory'
Pierre Poilievre is denouncing the 'white replacement theory' believed to be a motive for a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., as 'ugly and disgusting hate-mongering.'
Ontario driver who killed woman and three daughters sentenced to 17 years in prison
A driver who struck and killed a woman and her three young daughters nearly two years ago 'gambled with other people's lives' when he took the wheel, an Ontario judge said Monday in sentencing him to 17 years behind bars.
What we know so far about the victims of the Buffalo mass shooting
A former police officer, the 86-year-old mother of Buffalo's former fire commissioner, and a grandmother who fed the needy for decades were among those killed in a racist attack by a gunman on Saturday in a Buffalo grocery store. Three people were also wounded.
Ontario party leaders face off during 2022 election debate
The leaders of Ontario's four major political parties took the stage for a live televised debate in Toronto on Monday night.
Documents show a pattern of human rights abuses against gender diverse prisoners
Facing daily instances of violence and abuse, gender diverse people in the Canadian prison system say they are forced to take measures into their own hands to secure their safety.
White 'replacement theory' fuels racist attacks
A racist ideology seeping from the internet's fringes into the mainstream is being investigated as a motivating factor in the supermarket shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York. Most of the victims were Black.
Amber Heard says she feared she would not survive Johnny Depp marriage
'Aquaman' actor Amber Heard told jurors in a defamation case on Monday that she filed for divorce from Johnny Depp in 2016 because she worried she would not survive physical abuse by him.
Kenney visits Washington, pushing stronger energy ties between Alberta and U.S.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney begins his two-day blitz in Washington today, hoping to convince U.S. lawmakers his province is best positioned to strengthen North American energy security.