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Comment by markab21 | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone know what happens to the pod after a shuttle-craft docks and delivers cargo?

Do they push it back to earth? Into space, leave it in orbit?

It stays on the ISS while it is emptied and loaded for the return trip. Dragon is the only vehicle with a substantial down mass capability (3000kg) so it can return with things that need fixing and completed experiments etc. Shuttle is retired and Progress, ATV, HTV and Cygnus are one way trips so only good for taking out the garbage. Soyuz is full of people.

They set Dragon free with the arm, Dragon departs, does a de-orbit burn, jettisons the trunk (with the solar arrays), re-enters the atmosphere and parachutes down into the ocean and is recovered.

It will stay at the ISS for a month to allow cargo transfer [1]. Then it returns to earth under its own power and is re-used after refurbishment [2].

[1] http://www.nasa.gov/content/expedition-41-trio-waits-for-dra...

[2] http://www.spaceflight101.com/dragon-spacecraft-information....

Although the Dragon is reusable, SpaceX's contract with NASA stipulates that new capsules be used for each resupply mission. Not sure if the contract allows SpaceX to refurbish the capsules for other commercial missions, but the other CRS Dragons are being used for showpieces at the moment.

Interesting - I didn't know that. Do you know if this is due to NASA being general cautions with a new, relatively unproved vehicle? Or is it a condition of human-rating the Dragon?

General caution.

NASA was unwilling to believe any discount offered for use of a refurbished spacecraft until they'd actually done it, so the bid was made on the basis of a new capsule for each mission.

(The human-rated Dragon is going to be a different version anyway, with altered docking support, much beefier propulsion, altered solar panels, and of course, internal controls and life support. Current plan is new spacecraft permission there, too, though, perhaps for the same reason.)

The ISS crew load it up with cargo to be returned to Earth. It makes a controlled re-entry, splashes down in the Pacific and is recovered.

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