A few hours ago the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft ended its CRS-4 (Cargo Resupply Service 4) mission for NASA splashing down without problems in the Pacific Ocean about 500 km (about 300 miles) off the coast of California. The Dragon left the International Space Station yesterday morning, American time.

Shortly after splashing down, the Dragon was recovered from the SpaceX boats that will transport it to the coast. The cargo brought back to Earth will be delivered to NASA in the coming hours. The Dragon spacecraft had reached the International Space Station on September 23, 2014.

The Dragon spacecraft brought back to Earth nearly 1,500 kg (3,276 pounds) of cargo, including various scientific experiments and biological samples. Part of the samples is contained in the freezers because it’s necessary to keep tem at low temperatures. In the first Dragon missions there were water leaks that had endangered those samples. The problem was fixed but at the end of each mission all the checks are carried out.

SpaceX is the only American company to have a spaceship able to return to Earth intact cargo so the Dragon missions are really important for NASA. The schedule for the next resupply missions to the International Space Station is really intense because the next week Orbital Sciences’ spacecraft Cygnus is already expected to launch and there will is a tentative schedule for the Dragon to launch in its CRS-5 mission in December 2014.

The private American spaceships are beginning to handle close launches rather than several months apart. This shows that SpaceX and Orbital Sciences have proved that they have already reached a very high quality level in their missions. In just a couple of years, the supplies to the International Space Station have already become a routine with no major problems. This allows the companies to end a mission and start preparing for the next one instead of investigating issues to be fixed before the next launch. Let’s hope things go on that way!

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