Public Radio East serves Eastern North Carolina by providing news, fine arts, and informational programming that challenges, stimulates, educates, and entertains an intellectually curious audience.

© 2026 Public Radio East

Public Radio East
800 College Court
New Bern, NC 28562

EIN 56-1802728
Public Radio For Eastern North Carolina 89.3 WTEB New Bern 88.5 WZNB New Bern 91.5 WBJD Atlantic Beach 90.3 WKNS Kinston 89.9 W210CF Greenville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
US

SpaceX Dragon Splashes Down In Pacific After Leaving Space Station

Splashdown of SpaceX Dragon on Tuesday.
SpaceX
Splashdown of SpaceX Dragon on Tuesday.

The Dragon has landed.

The unmanned cargo capsule built by the private firm SpaceX splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after delivering the goods to the International Space Station.

"SPLASHDOWN! At 9:34am PT [12:34 p.m. ET], Dragon splashed down safely in the Pacific. Welcome home!" SpaceX tweeted.

Space.com says the Dragon deposited about 1,200 pounds of equipment, supplies and scientific instruments aboard the ISS and returns with more than twice as much cargo, "including a set of LEGO toys that have been on the station for the last two years. The equipment will be returned to NASA as soon as recovery teams return the Dragon capsule to dry land."

SpaceX has a $1.6 billion deal for the Dragon to resupply the station now that NASA's space shuttle has been retired. The mission that ended on Tuesday was the second of 12 contracted with the space agency. The first launch took place last May.

The Associated Press says the unmanned capsule that returned on Tuesday "will be shipped to Los Angeles and then trucked to Texas for unloading," and that "mechanical trouble delayed the capsule's arrival at the space station by a day, and bad weather at mission's end kept it in orbit an extra day."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

US
Scott Neuman is a correspondent for NPR's General Assignment Desk.