SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship makes first Atlantic splashdown - Daily Mail

SpaceX Dragon cargo ship loaded with science experiments, a case of wine, and live mice, has made its first ever splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, NASA confirmed. .

The spaceship autonomously undocked from the International Space Station on Tuesday, January 12 after a 36 day stay attached to the orbiting laboratory. .

This photo provided by NASA shows SpaceX's Dragon undocking from International Space Station on Tuesday, January 12, 2021.

Previous SpaceX dragon cargo missions finished with a parachute assisted splashdown in the Pacific, but this new version of the spaceship is designed to land closer to the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX Dragon is designed to be a reusable spacecraft that can safely deliver Equipment and cargo to the ISS as well as return science experiments back to Earth.

This is the first time science experiments from the space station have been able to return via Florida since the Space Shuttle stopped operating in 2011. .

'I am excited to finally see science returning here again because we can get these time sensitive experiments into the lab faster than ever,' says Kennedy Space Center utilisation project manager Jennifer Wahlberg. .

The helicopter will land the experiments at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), previously used for space shuttle return activities. 

Then a team will move most of the cargo to the Kennedy Space Center Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) by truck, where science teams will be waiting

The spaceship left the international space station on Tuesday and after some delays finally made splashdown of the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic Ocean this morning

From the hub at Kennedy Space Center, the science samples and experiments will head around the globe to California, Texas, Massachusetts, Japan, and more. 

The large amount of science returning to Earth on this mission is possible thanks to upgrades to the SpaceX cargo Dragon spacecraft, which has double the powered locker capability of the company's previous capsules. 

The next SpaceX Dragon cargo mission will be in May, and the crew Dragon capsule currently docked with the space station is due to return its four person crew in May.