Thursday, May 31, 2012

SpaceX Dragon spacecraft - the return


As per Spacex.com Dragon has left the ISS and has had the GO for reentry. The spacecraft is scheduled to return 31st May 2012:


"     Early Thursday, at approximately 1:00 AM Pacific/4:00 AM Eastern, they will use the space station's robotic arm to pull the spacecraft from the station. Two hours later, the robotic arm will release Dragon and the spacecraft will begin its journey home.

Dragon is targeted to land in the Pacific Ocean, a few hundred miles west of Southern California, at approximately 8:44 AM Pacific/11:44 AM Eastern on Thursday, May 31st. The spacecraft returns to Earth like a burning comet, protected from extreme reentry temperatures by its powerful PICA-X heat shield. The landing location is controlled by firing the Draco thrusters during reentry.     "



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