Dragon Splashes Down and Returns Science, Cargo

At 11:44 p.m. PST, the unpiloted SpaceX Dragon spacecraft splashed down off the coast of California, marking the return of the corporate’s thirty third Business Resupply Companies mission to the Worldwide Area Station for NASA.

Loaded with hundreds of kilos of crew provides, science experiments, and tools, the spacecraft undocked at 11:05 a.m. CST on Feb. 26, from the forward-facing port of the area station’s Concord module.

A number of scientific investigations are returning aboard Dragon, providing insights that might assist form future area exploration and life on Earth. The Euro Materials Ageing research uncovered 141 samples to area for a 12 months to look at how coatings, insulation, and 3D-printed supplies degrade, whereas Thailand’s Liquid Crystals experiment noticed the soundness of movies utilized in electronics in microgravity. Each may result in stronger spacecraft, higher shows, and improved optical gadgets on future missions. 

Frozen samples from the Stellar Stem Cells Mission 2 experiment are serving to research how microgravity impacts mind and coronary heart stem cell progress, which may enhance remedies for illnesses comparable to ALS and Parkinson’s illness. The SpaceDuino venture is paving the best way for extra low-cost devices after efficiently measuring vibrations utilizing a commercially out there single-board laptop and open-source software program. The Moon Microscope additionally efficiently examined a conveyable diagnostic package for blood evaluation in area that might assist future missions to the Moon and Mars. 

The Dragon spacecraft supporting the mission additionally launched a brand new functionality to reboost the area station, serving to preserve its altitude and counter atmospheric drag, which is essential for protected operations and the long-term sustainability of the orbital advanced. Throughout its time docked to the station, Dragon carried out six reboosts — 5 in 2025 and a last maneuver on Jan. 23 — earlier than preparations for its departure started.

The spacecraft arrived on the station on Aug. 25, 2025, following its launch a day earlier on a Falcon 9 rocket from Area Launch Complicated 40 at Cape Canaveral Area Drive Station in Florida. 

Study extra about station actions by following the area station weblog, @space_station on X, in addition to the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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February 27, 2026 10:22AM