A little while ago the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft ended its CRS-9 (Cargo Resupply Service 9) mission for NASA splashing down smoothly in the Pacific Ocean a little more than 420 kilometers (about 326 miles) off the coast of California. The Dragon left the International Space Station a few hours before.

Shortly after landing, the SpaceX Dragon boats went to retrieve it to transport it to the coast. The cargo brought back to Earth will be delivered to NASA soon, probably tomorrow. The Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on July 20, 2016.

The Dragon spacecraft brought back to Earth a little more than 1,400 kg (about 3,100 lbs) of mixed cargo that included various scientific experiments and biological samples. Part of the samples are contained in the freezers because they need to be kept at low temperatures. Some experiments were devised by non-profit organizations working with NASA in scientific and educational programs.

SpaceX is the only American company that has a spaceship able to bring intact cargo back to Earth so the Dragon missions are really important for NASA. Samples produced during many of the experiments conducted on the International Space Station may require in-depth analyzes possible only in specialized laboratories on Earth. There are also tomato seeds that were transported to the Station and soon will be planted on Earth.

Medical research, other biological research and experiments of other types are conducted on the Station. When they need to bring something back to Earth a little cargo can be transported together with the astronauts on the Soyuz spacecraft but their total volume requires a cargo spacecraft that can bring them back to Earth.

The next resupply mission for the Dragon cargo spacecraft could begin as early as November, although the launch dates are always approximate. For the moment they have to verify that the samples and experiments have returned to Earth undamaged. The collaboration with NASA remains critical for SpaceX’s activities so the fact that the CRS-9 mission was almost boring is a success.