SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft has splashed down in Pacific Ocean from International Space Station (ISS).
The Dragon spacecraft will be taken by ship to Long Beach, where some cargo will be removed and returned to NASA. Dragon will then be prepared for a return trip to SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas, for processing.
Flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at Johnson robotically positioned Dragon safely away from its docking port recently, where it was released for its deorbit maneuver, sending it on its way to a parachute-assisted splashdown.
Among the returned investigations were printed parts and hardware from the first technology demonstration of 3-D printing in space. The 3-D printer demonstration used relatively low-temperature plastic feedstock on the space station. The test phase ended with a printed ratchet wrench made with a design file transmitted from Earth to the printer.
Dragon also returned samples, hardware and data from several biology and biotechnology studies performed on the station. The Advancing Membrane Protein Crystallization by Using Microgravity investigation explored the production of high-quality crystals of the cystic fibrosis protein and other closely related proteins.
Because many medically relevant proteins are difficult to crystalize on Earth, researchers attempt to grow them in space to help determine their shape and structure with the hope of improving drug therapies for cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs and digestive system.
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Samples from the Advanced Plant Experiments 03-1 will help scientists better understand the effects of microgravity on the development of roots and cells on plant seedlings.
Researchers will conduct a detailed analysis of the returned plant samples to determine the molecular and genetic mechanisms that control plant development in microgravity.
With this knowledge, scientists might be able to improve agricultural and bioenergy research on Earth, leading to crops that use resources more efficiently.
Dragon was the only space station resupply spacecraft able to return a significant amount of cargo to Earth. The spacecraft lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Jan. 10 carrying more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and elements to support 256 scientific investigations and arrived at the orbiting complex two days later on Jan. 12.