A private cargo capsule is returning to Earth from the International Space Station Tuesday (March 26), and you can watch its orbital departure live online.
SpaceX's unmanned Dragon spacecraft is slated to depart the orbiting lab at 6:56 a.m. EDT (1056 GMT) Tuesday (March 26), perform a series of burns and then splash down at 12:34 p.m. EDT (1634 GMT) in the Pacific Ocean, 246 miles (396 kilometers) off the coast of Baja California.
SpaceX officials will pluck Dragon out of the water using a crane-equipped boat and ferry it back to shore after splashdown, which was originally scheduled to take place Monday (March 25). Weather worries pushed things back a day, but the delay shouldn't affect the scientific experiments coming home with Dragon, NASA officials said.
Dragon is the only currently operating cargo vessel that can return supplies to Earth. Other robotic supply vehicles — such as Japan's HTV, Europe's ATV and Russia's Progress spacecraft — burn up upon re-entering our planet's atmosphere.
California-based SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion NASA contract to fly 12 unmanned supply missions to the orbiting lab. Dragon made its first bona fide cargo run this past October, after successfully linking up with the space station on a demonstration mission in May 2012.
NASA has also signed a $1.9 billion deal with Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. to make eight unmanned cargo flights with its Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule. Antares is scheduled to make its first test flight in mid-April, and the rocket should blast Cygnus toward the station on a demonstration mission later this year if all goes well, Orbital officials have said.
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