欧美文化:SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft to bring science samples back to Earth

LOS ANGELES, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply spacecraft will depart the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday and return scientific research samples and hardware to Earth, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said on Monday.

The spacecraft is scheduled undock from the ISS at 12:05 p.m Eastern Time Thursday, and make a parachute-assisted splashdown about 2:30 a.m. Friday, off the coast of the southeastern U.S. state of Florida.

Dragon will carry back to Earth over 3,600 pounds of supplies and scientific experiments designed to take advantage of the space station's microgravity environment, according to NASA.

The spacecraft was launched June 5 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It arrived at the ISS on June 6, delivering more than 7,000 pounds of research investigations, crew supplies, and station hardware.