The Space X commercial supply ship was released from the International Space Station to begin its brief journey back to earth.  It will splash down in the Pacific Ocean only six hours after being released by the station.  It was set free at 9:26AM according to NASA and will splash down at approximately 3:00PM.

On its return, the spacecraft will be carrying Science Experiments and other cargo.  The Dragon arrived at the ISS on April 20 with 2.5 tons of crew supplies, cargo and science gear.  According to NASA, “Some of the 150 science experiments delivered aboard the private space freighter began immediately after being unloaded.”  They have now been completed and the results are ready for analysis.

NASA signed a Commercial Resupply Services contract with Space X due to the mothballing of the Space Shuttle Program.  This was the third official cargo delivery to the ISS.