SpaceX Dragon capsule returns from Space Station resupply mission

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule has made its way back from the International Space Station, completing the private launcher’s seventeenth resupply mission for the orbital research facility.

Commercial Resupply Services mission 17 (aka CRS-17 if you’re down to acronym) launched on May 4, its first backup window after an initial mission scrub. The Dragon’s cargo for this one included 5,500 lbs of both supplies for the astronauts, as well as materials used for ongoing experiments and research aboard the station.

Dragon spent about a month docked at the ISS while the crew unloaded its cargo, and then began its de-orbit burn earlier today before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean as planned Monday afternoon Pacific time.

You can check out a recap of the mission (complete with an infrared capture of the return of the Falcon 9 first-stage booster coming back in for a perfect landing on the drone landing ship Of ‘Course I Still Love You’ in the Pacific Ocean below.