SpaceX Dragon Cargo Ship Departs ISS, Returns to Earth

SpaceX CRS-16 Dragon cargo ship departs the International Space Station on Jan. 13, 2019 after release from Canadian robotic arm for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 14. Credit: David Saint-Jacques/NASA/CSA

Ken Kremer  --SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –14 January 2019

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL –  A commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo ship departed the International Space Station (ISS) Sunday evening and safely returned to Earth just past midnight this morning, Monday, Jan 14, carrying some two tons of research samples and gear for NASA after a five-week stay.

The SpaceX Dragon CRS-16 resupply ship safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean several hundred miles west of Baja California at about 12:05 a.m. EST Jan. 14, 9:05 p.m. PST Jan 13 to bring about a successful conclusion to SpaceX’s 16^th cargo flight to and from the orbiting outpost under contract to NASA. 

SpaceX Dragon was released from the grips of the 58-foot (17.7-meter) long Canadian-built Canadarm2 robotic arm at 6:33 p.m. EST Jan. 13 as NASA Astronaut Anne McClain of the Expedition 58 crew monitored the activities from the 7 windowed domed Cupola module aboard the International Space Station. 

“Farewell Dragon! #Canadarm2 just released SpaceX-16 capsule, returning experiments to scientists around the World,” tweeted Expedition 58 crew member astronaut David Saint-Jacques from the Canadian Space Agency. 

It had been berthed to the station at the Earth facing port of the Harmony module since arriving Dec. 8 and delivering over 5600 pounds of science and supplies for the station crew. 

The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft is pictured being released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm on Jan 13, 2018. Credit: NASA

A trio of departure burns soon followed to move the gumdrop shaped ship away from the space station and send it on its way to splashdown assisted by three main parachutes. 

"Good splashdown of Dragon confirmed, completing SpaceX’s fourth resupply mission to and from the @Space_Station with a flight-proven spacecraft,” SpaceX tweeted at 12:12 a.m. Jan. 14, a few minutes after the splashdown.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft is pictured moments after being released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm on Jan 13, 2018. Credit: NASA

This marked the first time the private Dragon made a nighttime splashdown into the Pacific Ocean as well as being the second roundtrip mission for this particular vessel.

“Dragon returned home last night after its five-week stay at the @Space_Station, completing SpaceX’s sixteenth flight to and from the orbiting laboratory. The ISS badge signifies this Dragon’s previous trip to the station in 2017,” SpaceX tweeted along with a photo.

SpaceX Dragon CRS-16 capsule hoisted aboard recovery ship after return from ISS and splashdown on Jan. 14, 2019. Credit: SpaceX

The SpaceX contracted maritime vessels located the Dragon and hoisted it on deck for return to the Port of Los Angeles where crews will quickly retrieve critical time sensitive samples for rapid shipment to waiting researchers for lab analysis. 20 mice were among the cache on board.

“Welcome back #Dragon! Now the critical space research it brought home will be distributed to scientists for analysis,” NASA tweeted.

NASA TV broadcast the Dragon release live, but with NO live commentary due to the ongoing US Government Shutdown, now in its 24^th day.  

The Dragon departure was delayed from Thursday due to poor weather at the Pacific Ocean sea landing location and wait for calmer sea states, said NASA.

“Robotics controllers remotely commanded the Canadarm2 robotic arm to let go of the U.S. space freighter sending it on a solo trajectory back to Earth,” NASA wrote in a blog post. 

"McClain watched Dragon perform a series of departure burns as it separated itself to a safe distance from the orbital lab. Integrated operations between mission controllers in Houston and SpaceX controllers in California stop when Dragon reaches a point about one kilometer away from the station.”

SpaceX Dragon CRS-16 spacecraft launches to the International Space Station at 1:16 p.m. EST Dec. 5, 2018, on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida carrying more than 5,600 pounds of research equipment, cargo and supplies on the 16^th resupply mission for NASA. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

After a 24 hour delay due to moldy mouse bars, the SpaceX mission began with the flawless blastoff of a brand new Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon CRS-16 commercial cargo freighter right on time Dec. 5 2018 as all nine first stage Merlin 1D engines roared to life and ignited with 1.7 million pounds of liftoff thrust at 1:16 p.m. EST (1816 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Check out our prior Space UpClose eyewitness gallery of imagery of the launch and landing as well as prelaunch imagery taken of the Falcon 9 standing tall at pad 40 during our media remote camera setups.  

The Dragon CRS-16 spacecraft was loaded with nearly 3 tons of critical research, hardware and supplies and successfully delivered the cargo to the ISS for NASA when it arrived three days later on Dec. 8. 

Up Close view of Dragon CRS-16 cargo ship bolted atop SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket poised for liftoff on mission to the ISS from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, on Dec. 5, 2018 at 1:16 pm EST. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The Dec. 5 CRS-16 mission was fully successful except for the planned landing attempt to recover the first stage booster back on the ground minutes, which failed due to a malfunction in a hydraulic pump required to the grid fins. But the good news is it was safely aborted to slightly offshore at sea, avoiding any danger to population centers or infrastructure.

The aborted land landing of the 15-story-tall booster amounted to a rare setback in rocket recycling for SpaceX which really plays second fiddle to the overarching goal of the mission - launching a Dragon resupply spaceship to the astronauts and cosmonauts living and working about the million-pound Earth orbiting science laboratory.

The plummeting booster was spinning out of control but eventually control was regained via firings of the Merlin 1D engines and it accomplished an unplanned emergency aborted landing in the Atlantic Ocean, tipping over and surviving horizontally as a remarkably intact sea worthy vessel. 

Falcon 9 1^st stage booster is spinning almost out of control and veering much farther downwards than normal during final descent. Engines finally did stabilize enough to regain control, deploy 4 landing legs and retarget for ocean landing just off shore from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, after Dec. 5, 2018 launch on SpaceX Dragon CRS-16 mission to the ISS for NASA.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The Falcon 9 booster arrived into Port Canaveral two days later when it was towed into port by the tugboat Eagle.

Check out all our Space UpClose articles and imagery detailing the Dragon’s journey to space and the Falcon 9s floating saga back to Port Canaveral followed by hoisting from the waters and detachment of the landing legs and grid fins. 

After a five week stay Dragon depart the station Sunday and returned to Earth with more than 4,000 pounds of science and research samples, hardware and crew supplies.

Dragon is the only spacecraft currently flying that can return large quantities of science samples and other hardware back to researchers for analysis and investigations here on Earth. 

CRS-16 marked the 20^th flight overall (out of 21 total) for SpaceX in 2018 and the 4^th ISS resupply mission for NASA in 2018. 

SpaceX was awarded a $3.04 Billion contract from NASA to launch 20 Dragon cargo missions to the orbiting outpost through 2019 under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) agreement.  

Under the follow up CRS-2 contract SpaceX is guaranteed at least 6 more resupply mission through 2024.

The next resupply mission involving the Dragon CRS-17 launch on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral is slated for No Earlier Than March 2019.  All launch dates are in flux due to the continuing government shutdown.

Meanwhile SpaceX announced a 10% cut in their workforce on Jan. 11, just hours after their 1^st launch of 2019. Details here.

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dr. Kremer is a research scientist, journalist and photographer based in the KSC area.………….

Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events

Dr Ken Kremer/Space UpClose interviewed by Fox 35 News Orlando about the successful SpaceX Dragon mission launch and the landing failure on Dec. 5, 2018.