NASA Television will provide live coverage of the departure of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from the International Space Station beginning at 1:45 p.m. EST. Dragon was detached from the Earth-facing side of the station's Harmony module earlier this morning. Flight controllers in Mission Control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will maneuver Dragon into place then turn it over to Expedition 42 robotic arm operators Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency and Terry Virts of NASA for release, scheduled for 2:10 p.m.
Watch: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
The Dragon arrived to the space station Jan. 12 after a Jan. 10 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida carrying more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and elements to support 256 scientific investigations the crew members of Expeditions 42 and 43 will conduct.
Release of the spacecraft by the station’s robotic arm will begin the Dragon’s return to Earth carrying about 3,700 pounds of NASA cargo and science samples from human research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities sponsored by NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, the nonprofit organization responsible for managing research aboard the U.S. national laboratory portion of the space station.
The capsule is currently scheduled to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean about 7:44 p.m., 259 miles southwest of Long Beach, California.
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