A Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Dragon spacecraft successfully
completed the company’s second cargo flight to the International Space Station
on Tuesday, March 26, with a 12:36 p.m. EDT splashdown in the Pacific Ocean a
few hundred miles west of Baja California, Mexico.

“The scientific
research delivered and being returned by Dragon enables advances in every aspect
of NASA’s diverse space station science portfolio, including human research,
biology and physical sciences,” said Julie Robinson, International Space Station
Program scientist. “There are more than 200 active investigations underway
aboard our orbiting laboratory in space. The scientific community has eagerly
awaited the return of today’s Dragon to see what new insights the returned
samples and investigations it carries will unveil.”

Science being
conducted aboard the space station includes research on physical and biological
processes that cannot be done anywhere else, applied research to improve lives
on Earth, and exploration research to help humans move safely beyond Earth
orbit.

A boat will take the Dragon capsule to a port near Los Angeles,
where it will be prepared for a return journey to SpaceX’s test facility in
McGregor, Texas, for processing. Some cargo will be removed at the port in
California and returned to NASA within 48 hours. This includes a freezer packed
with research samples collected in the space station’s unique microgravity
environment. The remainder of the cargo will be returned to Texas with the
capsule.

Dragon is the only space station resupply spacecraft able to
return a significant amount of cargo to Earth. The spacecraft lifted off from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on March 1, carrying about 1,268
pounds (575 kilograms) of supplies and investigations. It returned about 2,668
pounds (1,210 kilograms) of science samples, equipment and education activities.

Investigations included among the returned cargo could aid in food
production during future long-duration space missions and enhance crop
production on Earth. Others could help in the development of more efficient
solar cells, detergents and semiconductor-based electronics.

Among the
returned investigations was the Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures (CSLM-3)
experiment, which also launched to space aboard this Dragon. CLSM-3 studies how
crystals known as dendrites form as a metal alloy becomes solid. The research
could help engineers develop stronger materials for use in automobile, aircraft
and spacecraft parts.

Dragon also is returning several human research
samples that will help scientists continue to examine how the human body reacts
to long-term spaceflight. The results will have implications for future space
exploration and direct benefits here on Earth.

The mission was the
second of at least 12 cargo resupply trips SpaceX plans to make to the space
station through 2016 under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

SpaceX is one of two companies to build and test new cargo spacecraft
under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. Orbital
Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is the other company participating in COTS. A
demonstration flight of Orbital’s Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft to the
station is planned for later this year.

NASA initiatives such as COTS
and the agency’s Commercial Crew Program are helping develop a robust U.S.
commercial space transportation industry with the goal of achieving safe,
reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the space station and low
Earth orbit. In addition to cargo flights, NASA’s commercial space partners are
making progress toward a launch of astronauts from U.S. soil in the next few
years.

While NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop and
advance these commercial spaceflight capabilities, the agency also is developing
the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and
heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration.
Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions,
SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit and enable new
missions of exploration in the solar system.