The spacecraft SpaceX Dragon, loaded with scientific experiments, a case of wine and live mice, made its first accident in the Atlantic Ocean, confirmed NASA.
The spacecraft was unlocked autonomously from the International Space Station on Tuesday, January 12, after a 36-day stay attached to the orbit laboratory.
The ship’s experiments include a crate of Bordeaux wine, live mice and 3D-printed buds that could one day produce human organs from stem cells.
In all, there were £ 4,400 in scientific research and other goods that splashed in the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of Florida at 1:30 GMT this morning.
This photo provided by NASA shows the SpaceX Dragon disembarking from the International Space Station on Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Previous space shuttle missions have ended with a parachute-assisted crash in the Pacific, but this new version of the spacecraft is designed to land closer to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This is where the space agency processes scientific experiments aboard the ISS – so it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.
The SpaceX Dragon is designed to be a reusable spacecraft that can safely deliver equipment and cargo to the ISS, as well as return scientific experiments back to Earth.
“The upgraded Dragon cargo capsule used for this mission contains double the availability of the cabinet powered by the previous capsules, allowing a significant increase in research that can be delivered back to scientists,” NASA said.
“Some scientists will return to their research quickly, four to nine hours after the outbreak.”
This is the first time that space science experiments have been able to return through Florida since the space shuttle ceased operations in 2011.
This image shows part of the cargo that was loaded on the Dragon ship, when it first went to the ISS last year. It can keep more in the cold room than the original Dragon
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is next to storage in the SpaceX CRS-9 Dragon spacecraft in 2016. The new cargo spacecraft has more powered locking space, allowing for additional cold storage space
To return to Earth, the experiments had to travel by capsule, helicopter, boat, plane and car before heading to the researchers who designed them.
“I’m excited to finally see the science coming back here again, because we can get these sensitive experiments to the lab in time faster than ever,” says Jennifer Wahlberg, Kennedy Space Center’s project manager.
“Sending science into space and then getting it back on track was definitely something in the days of the shuttle that we were really proud of and being able to join this process is wonderful.”
As the spacecraft returns to Earth, the experiments begin to experience the effects of gravity again, NASA explained in a blog post.
There is a process quite involved in bringing the floating capsule experiments back to universities, companies and other institutions.
NASA described the process, saying: “After a SpaceX boat takes the capsule out of the water, a waiting team takes the critical science of time out of the spacecraft and loads it into a waiting helicopter.
“The helicopter will deliver this science ashore a few hours after it crashed. Any remaining scientific cargo will either return in a second cargo by helicopter or remain on board and be removed to port. ”
The helicopter will land the experiments at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), previously used for space shuttle return activities.
Then, a team will move most of the cargo to the Kennedy Space Center (SSPF) processing facility with the truck, where the scientific teams will wait.
“We will have a parade of researchers ready at the Kennedy Space Center waiting to receive evidence,” said Mary Walsh, head of the Kennedy Research Integration Office’s user flight.
The spacecraft left the International Space Station on Tuesday and, after several delays, finally caused the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean this morning.
He is heavily involved in returning scientific experiments back to scientists, including transportation by boat, helicopter and car.
Traditionally used to prepare experiments for space launches, SSPF hosts world-class laboratories that provide the tools and workspace for immediate data collection and sample analysis, the space agency explained.
“Scientists will take a quick look to get initial results and then send them back to their home bases,” says Wahlberg.
“The advantage of being able to observe science earlier is the ability to deny any gravitational effect on research after it has been in space.”
From the Kennedy Space Center, scientific evidence and experiments will travel around the globe to California, Texas, Massachusetts, Japan and more.
The large amount of science returning to Earth in this mission is possible due to upgrades to the SpaceX cargo ship Dragon, which has double the ability to electrically lock the company’s previous capsules.
The rodent research system is an experiment that returns to Earth – it includes three modules: habitat (left), transporter (center) and animal access unit (right)
Another experiment saw a case of wine sent to the ISS to age in orbit in a year – it will be tasted in February and studied for changes in bubble content
On return, it can support up to 12 electrical cabinets, allowing the transport of more cold goods and energy for additional payloads.
‘The old capsule was like a donut filled with cream. You wrapped everything around the walls, and then, in the middle, I put a huge pile of bags, ”said Walsh.
“This modernized cargo dragon looks more like a three-story house. Put things in the basement, then wrap up the second story, then go upstairs and wrap up the third story. So it’s really different from a design perspective. ‘
The next SpaceX Dragon loading mission will be in May, and the Dragon Crew capsule currently anchored with the space station is set to return its four-person crew in May.
Prior to that, another Dragon spacecraft will launch in March to send four more astronauts to the orbiting lab.