SpaceX's Dragon Departs ISS

ORIGINAL: SpaceX

Dragon is a free-flying, reusable spacecraft developed by SpaceX under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. Initiated internally by SpaceX in 2005, the Dragon spacecraft is made up of a pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used for Earth to LEO transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members.

In May 2012, SpaceX made history when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle in history to successfully attach to the International Space Station. Previously only four governments -- the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency -- had achieved this challenging technical feat.

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft on the barge after being retrieved from the Pacific Ocean after splashdown, May 31, 2012. Photo: SpaceX

SpaceX Dragon departed the International Space Station on October 28, 2012 at 6:29AM PT. 

The only craft capable of bringing a significant amount of cargo to and from the station, Dragon departed with 1,673 pounds of return cargo. This is the return flight of the CRS-1 mission, the first of at least 12 official cargo resupply missions SpaceX will conduct for NASA. (Video sped up 15x.)