Tomorrow marks the end of SpaceX's first mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon spacecraft will be detached from the station early Thursday morning and is expected to splashdown in the eastern Pacific less than six hours later. It's been eight days since SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocketlaunched its Falcon 9 rocket, boosting the company's Dragon spacecraft into low earth orbit. On Friday, Dragon became the first privately operated spacecraft to attach to the ISS as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation System program.
On Saturday Dragon's hatch was opened and astronauts on board the ISS entered the capsule for the first time calling it roomy and even commented on the "new car smell." On Monday, the crew spent the holiday emptying the more than 1,000 pounds of cargo on board Dragon and filling it back up with nearly 1,400 pounds of of cargo for the return trip back to earth.
Dragon is expected to perform a de-orbit burn early Thursday morning, slowing down until it reenters the atmosphere. During reentry, the capsule's heat shield will protect it from the heat caused by friction with the increasingly dense atmosphere. SpaceX says the reentry profile will be similar to Dragon's first trip to space back in 2010, and is similar to all spacecraft leaving the ISS and returning to earth.
After Dragon detaches and moves away from the space station the capsule will be visible from earth for a few minutes early Thursday morning (assuming there are no clouds where you are). To find out when and where to look, NASA has a few different ways of determining your best chances.
After splashing down about 490 miles west-southwest of Los Angeles, Dragon will be recovered by a ship and returned to Los Angeles before being transported via airplane to SpaceX's McGregor, Texas facility for post flight analysis.
Photo: NASA
