SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft will Depart International Space Station: Homeward Bound

SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule will fly back to Earth on Monday after resupplying the International Space Station. The announcement comes after officials gave a unanimous "go" for the Dragon's departure.

SpaceX has risen to be one of the more established private space firms, despite having some growing pains in the beginning. Failed rocket tests peppered the media as the firm tried to get off the ground. Now, though, SpaceX has had a string of successes that have helped changed public perception. Eventually, the company hopes to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS rather than just cargo. Their current date for reaching that goal is 2015.

The capsule itself was launched on March 1 with a Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Packed with NASA cargo, the capsule delivered about 1,200-pounds worth of supplies and experiments to the ISS. It was the third time that SpaceX has helped resupply the space station.

ISS managers and SpaceX officials met on Thursday in order to discuss the preparations needed before the Dragon could return home. This included a review of thruster problems, an issue that the spacecraft experienced shortly after launch. Fortunately, the groups deemed that the capsule was perfectly capable of flying back to Earth.

At approximately 5:05 a.m. EDT Monday, station astronauts will pull the capsule from its docking port with a robotic arm, releasing it into space at around 7:49 a.m. The Dragon will then re-enter the atmosphere and splash down into the Pacific Ocean at 1:19 p.m.

The Dragon won't be coming home empty, though. It will be returning 2,668 pounds of equipment and science experiments to Earth. Recovery ships will eventually return the spacecraft to Los Angeles where it will then be transported to Texas.

Want to check out the coverage of the SpaceX capsule's return trip? You can witness the preparations and the capsule in space on NASA TV. SpaceX will then provide updates to its website of reentry and splashdown activities.