SpaceX's 32nd robotic Dragon cargo mission is set to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday (May 23), after a one-day delay due to bad weather at the splashdown site.
If all goes according to plan, the robotic Dragon will depart from the ISS on Friday at 12:05 p.m. EDT (1605 GMT) and splash down off the California coast early Sunday morning (May 25).
NASA will stream the undocking live on its NASA+ platform, beginning at 11:45 a.m. EDT (1545 GMT) on Friday. You can also watch the action in the window above via Sen's 4k 24/7 high-definition cameras, which are mounted on the station's exterior. The splashdown will not be webcast.
Once undocking commences, Dragon will maneuver a safe distance away from the ISS, to begin a series of deorbit burns to place the spacecraft on a return trajectory for a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
The splashdown will bring an end to a mission known as CRS-32 — SpaceX's 32nd mission for NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program.
CRS-32 launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 21. The spacecraft docked with the zenith port of the station's Harmony module a day later, delivering around 6,700 pounds (3,040 kilograms) of food, equipment and scientific experiments to the station.
Dragon will carry cargo back down to Earth as well. Exterior materials samples from NASA's Multipurpose International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-20) have been stowed inside the CRS-32 capsule, as have an Astrobee robot, the REACCH (Responsive Engaging Arms for Captive Care and Handling) technology demonstration and other experiments. The spacecraft will also be packed with a number of other rotational items from the ISS stores, as well as non-recyclables marked for disposal.
Dragon is currently the only operational cargo vehicle capable of such two-way deliveries. The others — Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft and Russia's Progress vehicle — are designed to burn up during their reentry through Earth's atmosphere.
Boeing's astronaut-carrying Starliner spacecraft is also capable of storing cargo within its crew cabin, but issues with the spacecraft during its crew flight test last summer have delayed its qualification to enter into the space station's official fleet.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 2:05 p.m. ET on May 22 with the new target undocking date of May 23.
