The International Space Station bid farewell to a robotic SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule, with measures being taken at mission control to protect against COVID-19 infection.
- The Dragon was set loose after spending a month hooked up to the space station, and brought two tons of equipment and experiments back to Earth. One of the payloads was a University of Washington experiment designed to study how heart muscle tissue grown from human stem cells fared in zero-G.
- Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean occurred at 11:50 a.m. PT, ending the final flight for the original Dragon design. SpaceX’s future resupply missions will use a cargo-only version of the upgraded Crew Dragon, also known as Dragon 2.
- Members of SpaceX’s mission control team in California spread out and wore face masks today as a pandemic precaution. So far, six SpaceX workers have tested positive for COVID-19, CNBC reported.
