Home Headlines

Dragon Capsule Ready For Space Station Departure

Posted: 1:54 AM May 31, 2012
Reporter: Assocaited Press

The world's first commercial supply ship is closed up and ready for a flight back to Earth from the International Space Station today.

Astronauts sealed the hatch to the SpaceX Dragon capsule on Wednesday. It's loaded with 1,400 pounds of experiments and old equipment for return to NASA.

Now, the astronauts will use the station's robot arm to release the Dragon. The spacecraft will aim for a splashdown in the Pacific later in this morning, about 500 miles southwest of Los Angeles.

The California-based SpaceX is the first private business to launch a spacecraft to the orbiting complex. NASA wants to use the capsule to restock the station's pantry and eventually ferry station astronauts.