A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule is scheduled to undock from the ISS at 12:05 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, beginning its return to Earth after a roughly one-month stay. The departure ends SpaceX’s 34th commercial resupply mission for NASA, carrying thousands of pounds
When the Dragon capsule pulls away from the International Space Station on Tuesday, June 16, the clock will finally run out on SpaceX’s 34th cargo resupply mission for NASA—an end that will come with live science heading home.
The uncrewed SpaceX spacecraft, known as Dragon, is set to undock at 12:05 p.m. from the Earth-facing port on the Harmony Module, which contains some sleeping quarters and connects the ISS laboratories. After about a one-month stay. the mission will be over the moment the capsule leaves orbit and begins its trip back to Earth. with its contents headed to scientists on the ground.
If the undocking proceeds on time, Dragon is expected to make a parachute-assisted water landing Wednesday, June 17, in the Pacific Ocean near California. NASA says there will be no astronauts aboard the spacecraft for the return.
The undocking today, June 16, follows the capsule’s arrival at the ISS in mid-May. Dragon reached the orbital outpost in the middle of May after launching atop SpaceX’s two-stage Falcon 9 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Falcon 9 is described as the most active rocket in the world. and it has been the vehicle behind the routine flow of cargo that keeps research moving on the station.
The timing of this departure also intersects with what’s next for crew rotations at the ISS. The next time Falcon 9 launches with a Dragon perched on top, it will carry humans on a mission known as Crew-13, expected to relieve four astronauts at the ISS in September.
NASA coverage is slated to begin at 11:45 a.m. ET Tuesday, June 16, ahead of the scheduled undocking. The livestream will be available on the agency’s free NASA+ streaming service. as well as NASA’s YouTube channel and Amazon Prime. NASA will not stream the splashdown the next day, expected for 8:06 a.m. ET on June 17, but it will post updates on its space station blog.
The mission’s practical purpose is straightforward: Dragon is returning with thousands of pounds of cargo, including results of research and science experiments conducted aboard the ISS. Those findings will be analyzed by scientists back on Earth.
The Dragon capsule itself is one of the station’s essential lifelines. Standing nearly 27 feet tall and about 13 feet wide. it can carry up to seven astronauts into orbit. although most of SpaceX’s Crew missions contracted with NASA use four-person crews. Alongside crew transport. Dragon is also one of the cargo spacecraft that regularly delivers science experiments and other supplies to the ISS.
The ISS remains a long-running hub in low-Earth orbit, stationed for more than 25 years at about 260 miles high. Operated through a global partnership of space agencies—including NASA. Roscosmos. the European Space Agency. the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. and the Canadian Space Agency—the station has served as a test bed for scientific research in microgravity and has. in past years. opened itself to private commercial missions. NASA says more than 290 spacefarers from 26 countries have visited the ISS, including 170 from the United States alone.
On orbit right now, seven astronauts are part of Expedition 74. Four of them are continuing the Crew-12 mission that docked in mid-February: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway; European Space Agency’s Sophie Adenot; and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The Crew-12 contingent is due to depart in September after the arrival of Crew-13. NASA astronaut Chris Williams. along with Russians Sergey Mikaev and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov. arrived at the end of November on a Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft and are scheduled to remain there until their replacements arrive in July.
Right now. the story of Tuesday’s undocking is both operational and personal to the people who will rely on what’s in the capsule. Dragon’s departure ends the spacecraft’s roughly one-month mission. but it also marks the point where weeks of experiments stop living in microgravity and begin a new phase: careful review. interpretation. and follow-up work across labs on the ground.
SpaceX Dragon capsule ISS CRS-34 NASA Falcon 9 undocking Harmony Module Expedition 74 Crew-13 cargo resupply