Dragon spacecraft left the ISS and headed to Earth with cargo
American freight Dragon spacecraft left the ISS and began the return to Earth. It is reported by NASA on Twitter.
Undocking of the ship began experts on the Ground: they brought to the truck manipulator Canadarm2, through which the ship will be removed from the docking station. Then NASA astronaut Robert Kimbrough and ESA astronaut Thomas Sands gave the command to undock the cargo ship from the paddle.
.@SpaceX #Dragon set to splash down at ~10:54am ET in the Pacific, where teams will retrieve the capsule & its 5,400+ pounds of cargo pic.twitter.com/w89D5RIYBu
— NASA (@NASA) March 19, 2017
At 17:10 Moscow time the spacecraft will descend from an orbit and approximately 40 minutes will crash in the Pacific ocean.
On his return he will deliver about 2.5 tons of waste materials and the results of scientific experiments. As reported, today the Dragon is the only spacecraft that can deliver cargo to the orbital station to the Ground.
Recall, February 23, Dragon successfully docked to the ISS. The first attempt to dock on February 22 was unsuccessful.
Previously it was assumed that the launch of manned capsules to the ISS Dragon can move in the second quarter of 2018 in connection with the work on changing the system of fueling of the Falcon 9 rocket. Recall, it crashed when launch in September 2016. The previous successful launch of the cargo spacecraft Dragon to the ISS was carried out in July last year.