SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft back to Earth with scientific research samples

Los Angeles, Dec 23: SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply spacecraft returned to Earth on Friday with scientific research samples and hardware.

According to NASA, Dragon undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 5:05 p.m. Eastern Time (2205 GMT) on Thursday, Xinhua News Agency reported.

After about 20 hours of flight, Dragon made a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of the U.S. state of Florida on Friday.

Dragon carried back to Earth more than 4,300 pounds (1,950 kg) of supplies and scientific experiments designed to take advantage of the space station's microgravity environment, said NASA.

Dragon launched on Nov. 9 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The spacecraft arrived at the ISS on Nov. 11 as SpaceX's 29th commercial resupply services mission for NASA, delivering about 6,500 pounds of research investigations, crew supplies and station hardware.