Dragon Cargo Return to Permit Quick Experiment Processing

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — More space history will be made Monday night as a cargo craft returns to Earth after a stint at the International Space Station.

And where it’s landing — in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the Space Coast —  is key for science experiments also coming back from the microgravity environment of the orbiting outpost.

The NASA CRS-21 mission began when a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched from Florida’s Space Coast on December 6, 2020.

The Dragon capsule docked with the ISS the next day, filled with loads of cargo, science, and experiments.

“My role is to help bring that science on board,” Michael Roberts, chief scientist for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, said.

He works with scientists, engineers, innovators, and entrepreneurs who want to advance their technology needs in microgravity.

“It is truly a unique operating environment and laboratory for doing those types of activities,” Roberts said.

One experiment returning to Earth next week is a University of Florida-backed project involving “tissue chip technology.” It’s a tiny device containing human cells, and the goal is to test how those cells deal with stress, drug, and genetic changes in the low-gravity environment, which could have health impacts on Earth and future long-term, deep-space missions.

For experiments like this one, timing is everything. 

When the Dragon cargo capsule splashes down off the Space Coast at about 9 p.m. Monday, the tissue chips will get back to Kennedy Space Center for processing more quickly for the first time.

“That exposure to the one G environment or after reentry is critical in the outcome of the experiment,” Roberts said. “They will be able to start data collection immediately now.”