A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft ended its CRS-31 (Cargo Resupply Service 31) mission for NASA splashing down smoothly off the Florida Coast. The Dragon left the International Space Station about 24 hours earlier. For SpaceX, this was the 11th mission of the 2nd contract with NASA to transport supplies to the Station with the new version of the Dragon cargo spacecraft.

Shortly after the splashdown, SpaceX’s “MV Megan” recovery ship went to retrieve the Dragon to transport it to the coast. The cargo brought back to Earth will be delivered to NASA within a few hours. The Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on November 5, 2024.

The Dragon spacecraft brought back to Earth a number of payloads that include various scientific experiments and biological samples. Part of the samples is contained in the freezers because they need to be kept at low temperatures. SpaceX is the only American company that has a spacecraft capable of bringing 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.

During the CRS-31 mission, a Dragon spacecraft was used for the first time to reboost the International Space Station’s orbit. This was an experiment that is necessary in the case Russia were to move forward with its plan for a national space station and in the development of a Dragon variant capable of pushing the Station’s modules onto a trajectory that would cause them to disintegrate in Earth’s atmosphere at the end of its life.

The next Dragon cargo resupply mission could begin in March 2025, but that’s a tentative schedule. With the recent increase in missions that sometimes just make a quick stop at the International Space Station, the schedule of cargo spacecraft missions is more subject to change than ever.