US company SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship is preparing to make its return journey to Earth after a landmark mission to the International Space Station, NASA and SpaceX representatives said Wednesday. The release of the unmanned Dragon is set for 5:35 am Eastern time (0935 GMT) on Thursday, with an intact splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off California planned for 1444 GMT, NASA said.
"We have a lot ahead of us on the SpaceX side," said mission director John Couluris in a briefing with reporters on the eve of the spacecraft's return after a seven-day mission to the orbiting outpost. "We have done it once," he said, referring to the Dragon's test flight in December 2010 when the capsule entered and returned safely from orbit for the first time.
The capsule is supposed to make an ocean landing 490 nautical miles (907 kilometers) south-west of Los Angeles, where three vessels are standing by as recovery boats. It will then be transported to Texas so that the cargo it is bringing back can be returned to NASA, though the US space agency cautioned that if anything goes wrong, there is nothing irreplaceable on board.
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