SpaceX Dragon Successfully Returned To Earth From ISS

This morning, Dragon capsule from SpaceX returned to Earth with its first nighttime splashdown. The landing marks the company’s another triumphant space mission.

At 3:33 PM PST, the Dragon capsule was let go from the robotic arm that connected the capsule with the ISS. Returning from its mission, the capsule carried with its experiments and equipment from the ISS.

Around 9:15 PM, after hours of long descent back to Mother Earth, the capsule landed on the Pacific ocean with a splashdown. Nearby, there was a standby ship prepared by SpaceX to recover the Dragon capsule and take it back to California where everything in it will then be unloaded.

The great weather condition with moonlight and clear skies also played an essential role for the landing to take place as it allowed observers from Earth to track the capsule’s location. This is the first time for SpaceX to operate a nighttime splashdown.

On December 8^th, the Dragon capsule reached the ISS with a total of 3 tons of cargo onboard which includes experiments, food, and other supplies.

After weeks of unloading and reloading the capsule for its trip back to Earth, ISS’s astronauts had to wait for a few days before dispatching the capsule as the cold condition of the recovery area caused the operation’s delay.

The news about Dragon capsule’s successful return came after SpaceX’s lousy week as the company let go one-tenth of its workforce which was 600 employees.

The company claimed that the staff cuts were to make sure the future projects’ continuation.

A statement from SpaceX reads:

Future ambitions of SpaceX prove to be costly indeed. While every time the company launches a capsule to space, SpaceX receives more than ten of millions, up to this point, the company has required an investment of billions of dollars for its projects.

The company’s current value is $30.5 billion, SpaceX is not lack of investors. Last year, the company also received loans of $250 million dollars amid a loan sale.

Latest projects from SpaceX including a premier spaceship called Starship and a rocket system named Super Heavy which, according to Musk’s estimation, would cost somewhere between $2 and $10 billion dollars.

To help finance the company’s operations, SpaceX has plans to venture into actual space travel field. In 2018, a Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa, made a down-payment which is undisclosed for a trip to the moon for several artists and for himself in 2023 when the technology is all set.

Another project from SpaceX is to set up a system of orbiting satellites to provide high-speed internet, which costs around $10 billion dollars.

SpaceX will maintain its contract on the Dragon capsule with NASA with hopes to start taking astronauts to the ISS within the next few years.