Dragon Begins Steps to Return to Earth - UPDATE 3 -- Dragon Lands in Pacific

UPDATE 3:  Dragon splashed down at 11:42 ET, two minutes earlier than scheduled.   Press conference at 2:00 pm ET; watch on NASA TV.

UPDATE 2:  Dragon successfully completed its deorbit burn and is now on course to land in the Pacific at 11:44 am ET, 490 nautical miles southwest of Los Angeles.

UPDATE:  Dragon has successfully departed from the ISS "keep out" zone.   It is scheduled to fire its engines for the deorbit burn at 10:51 am EDT and splash down at 11:44 am EDT.   NASA TV will resume its coverage of the mission at 10:15 EDT (not 10:45 as earlier announced).

ORIGINAL STORY: Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) demated the Dragon spacecraft from the ISS on schedule at 4:05 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) using Canadarm2 this morning.   Splashdown in the Pacific is expected at 11:44 am EDT.

A series of activities must take place between now and splashdown.   The most recent list of times for key events announced  via NASA TV include the following.  NASA TV uses Central Daylight Time (CDT) since the broadcast for this mission originates at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, but they are converted here into EDT.

• 5:35 am EDT, Dragon released by astronauts from Canadarm2
• 5:36, 5:37 and 5:45 am EDT, three engine firings by Dragon
• 5:46 am EDT, Dragon leaves sphere of integrated operations (i.e. the immediate vicinity of the ISS)
• NASA TV will cease its coverage and resume at 10:45 am EDT
• 10:51 am EDT, Dragon fires deorbit burn which lasts 9 minutes 50 seconds
• 11:44 am ET, Dragon splashdown in Pacific Ocean 490 nautical miles southwest of Los Angeles

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