Pictures are available along with a video of the splash down..
The Dragon capsule was at the ISS for three weeks before returning to earth with 760 kilos (1,675 lbs.) of cargo. visit to the orbiting laboratory. Dragon is the first robotic spacecraft ever to be capable of returning cargo to Earth. The other robotic spacecraft that visit the ISS are loaded with refuse and de-orbited, and then burn up on reentry.
Returning this much cargo from the ISS has not happened since the last Space Shuttle mission over a year ago. This return capability is, perhaps, the most valuable capability of the SpaceX resupply missions. ISS commander Sunita Williams said "Literally and figuratively, there are pieces of us on that spacecraft going home to Earth.", referring to the hundreds of blood and urine sample that are being returned. The samples were taken by space station astronauts as part of two ongoing experiments studying the nutrition of astronauts and how their diet can help protect against the negative health effects of long-term space travel, such as bone loss.
No astronaut blood and urine samples have been returned from the space station since July 2011, the month of NASA's final space shuttle mission before the fleet was retired. Since then, the samples were stored in freezers awaiting the Dragon spacecraft. American astronauts, meanwhile, traveled to and from the station on Russian Soyuz capsules.
Dragon’s return is a milestone in NASA’s effort to turn space station cargo logistics over to private operators. The craft’s splashdown marked the completion of the first mission under Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX’s $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract signed with NASA in 2008. SpaceX has 11 more missions to fly under that contract.
The details of the return flight are as follows:
The Dragon capsule, separated from the "trunk" prior to reentry. The trunk, filled with refuse, along with the solar arrays, burned up in re-entry as planned. The remaining Dragon pressurized capsule, 14 ft. tall and 12 ft. in diameter, re-entered earth's atmosphere and splashed at 3:22 p.m. EDT several hundred miles west of Baja California. The capsule landed safely under the canopy of all three of it's 116 ft. parachutes.
The return cargo was:
Crew supplies - 74 kilograms (163 lbs.)
Scientific research - 392 kilograms (866 lbs.)
Other hardware - 235 kilograms (518 lbs.)
The SpaceX recovery team secured the capsule and then lifted it onto a 100-foot barge for the trip to a San Pedro, CA port.
As soon as the capsule arrived on land technicians retrieved the refrigerated medical samples, including the vials of blood and urine, for rapid dispatch to laboratories, as well as other sensitive payloads. The remainder of the cargo is unloaded after the capsule reaches the SpaceX test facility in McGregor, Texas.
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