Welcome back: SpaceX Dragon capsule splashes down in the Pacific

The first operational mission to the ISS for SpaceX—as part of its 12-trip agreement with NASA—officially ended today. At 12:22pm PST, the Dragon capsule splashed down into the Pacific Ocean to complete its two-week journey.

At first glance, things look good overall. On October 7, the launch propelled Dragon into space despite encountering the most public hitch of this mission—an engine failure during launch. Dragon reached the ISS to finish off its delivery just three days later. Then, this morning at 6:29am PST, Dragon departed the ISS with more than 1,600lbs of return cargo.

There was no live coverage of the landing, but NASA provided the video above of Dragon separating from the ISS for its return trip. Ars will continue to follow this initiative as SpaceX or NASA makes more information available.

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