US space agency NASA said that a SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying thousands of pounds of return supplies from the International Space Station (ISS) had a parachute landing into the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday.
The Dragon cargo ship, loaded with approximately 4,000 pounds (or 1,814 kg) of returning science equipment and experiments, left the space station at 2:10 pm EST/1910 GMT, splashing down nearly 260 miles southwest of Long Beach in California, around 5.5 hours later.
Among the returning supplies included two faulty components from spacesuits that the engineers at the American space agency will be analyzing before giving clearance to the astronauts for a trio of spacewalks in February.
Meanwhile, Space X was also making arrangements on Tuesday for its another Falcon launch, overlapping with the Dragon’s return. But the launch attempt of Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida was called off after the high upper-level winds scrapped the event, forcing the company to ground the rocket.
“Extreme wind shear over Cape Canaveral. Feels like a sledgehammer when supersonic in the vertical,” Elon Musk, founder and Chief Executive of SpaceX, posted on Twitter.
The space company will make another attempt to launch the ‘Deep Space Climate Observatory’ or DSCOVR, which belongs to the US government, on Wednesday at 6:03 pm EST/2303 GMT.
The satellite is designed as weather buoy which will provide the scientists with nearly an hour’s advance warning of the solar storms that can be potentially dangerous for the Earth’s satellite signals, radio communications and power grids installed back on the planet. The satellite will also update the scientists with the information related to volcanic plumes, ozone measurement and possible droughts, fires and floods after keeping a close eye on the sun-lit side of Earth.
Share this:
