Dragon capsule bids adios to ISS Crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are preparing to wave off the SpaceX Dragon resupply capsule, which will return to Earth later today bearing over 1,600kg of cargo. The unmanned space truck launched to the orbiting outpost on April 8 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, atop a Falcon 9 rocket. It carried …
Elmer Phud,
Nope. They have chucked rubbish in them before, but mostly that gets burned up in the European, Japanese and Russian delivery vehicles, which can't return.
I presume NASA wanted an equipment return capability because Dragon was the only one of the ISS supply vehicles designed after the shuttle was retired. And that could fulfill this requirement before. There's barely room in Soyuz for the 3 astronauts, let alone any extras.
But they're always doing experiments that require a sample return. So they send baby mice up there, to see how they develop, in comparison to ground-based siblings. Then bring them home, and before they can gloat to their mates about how they're space mice, it's off to the dissection table for everyone.
Similar stuff with fruitflies. Then there's been mini school experiments in Kinder Egg plastic toy pods, and tests on long term exposure to radiation outside the ISS. I'd be surprised if they aren't taking blood samples from the astronauts as well.
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