SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft back to Earth with scientific research samples

SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply spacecraft returned to Earth on Friday with scientific research samples and hardware.

According to NASA, Dragon undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 5:05pm Eastern Time on Thursday.

After about 20 hours of flight, Dragon made a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of the US state of Florida on Friday.

Dragon carried back to Earth more than 4,300 pounds (1,950 kg) of supplies and scientific experiments designed to take advantage of the space station's microgravity environment, said NASA.

Dragon launched on November 9 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The spacecraft arrived at the ISS on November 11 as SpaceX's 29th commercial resupply services mission for NASA, delivering about 6,500 pounds of research investigations, crew supplies and station hardware.