HOUSTON — SpaceX retrieval crews began recovery of the company’s Dragon CRS-2 resupply craft from Pacific waters off the coast of Baja, Calif., on March 26, following its departure from the International Space Station and a successful plunge through the Earth’s atmosphere. Slowed by three parachutes, the unpiloted capsule splashed down 200 mi. west of Baja at 12:34 p.m. EDT, with a nearly 2,700-lb. cargo of research gear and equipment for distribution to scientists, refurbishment or disposal.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) closed the hatches on the SpaceX Dragon CRS-2 supply capsule March 25, after preparing a near 2,700-lb. cargo for a weather-delayed splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja, Calif. The splashdown under parachute is scheduled for March 26 at 12:34 p.m. EDT. Over the weekend, a forecast for rough seas in the recovery zone 200 to 300 mi. offshore prompted NASA and Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX to call for a one-day postponement in the unpiloted capsule’s ISS departure and descent.

Have agreed to cooperate on future missions to the Moon and Mars

SBIRS SEQUEL: The second Lockheed Martin Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) spacecraft is executing a series of six liquid apogee engine burns to raise it to geosynchronous orbit, following its March 20 launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for the U.S. Air Force. The payload aboard the A2100-based satellite is scheduled to be activated about 30 days after launch. Sbirs carries both scanning and staring infrared sensors for detecting missile launches.

CANBERRA and BEIJING — Operation of a relocated space-surveillance radar in Western Australia may be only the first step in expanded cooperation between the U.S. and Australia in space situational awareness. Separately, Australia also is looking at setting up an independent capability in the field, says a defense department spokeswoman in Canberra.

Thales Alenia Space, the prime contractor for 24 second-generation Globalstar communications satellites, says it could conclude a deal with the mobile satellite services provider before summer for six additional next-generation spacecraft to be financed with backing from the French export credit agency Coface.

The UAE’s Yahsat Ka-band satellite system has been certified as compatible with the U.S. Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) Ka-band network, and the Boeing Commercial Satellite Services division will sell military and civil Ka-band for the Abu Dhabi-based fleet operator Al Yah Satellite Communications. Under the agreement, users of the Boeing-built WGS network will be able to seamlessly switch between the 10-satellite WGS network being deployed for the U.S. military and allied nations and Yahsat, says Al Yah Satellite Deputy CEO Masood M. Sharif Mahmood.

The NASA-led International Space Station mission management team has approved a March 25 departure and splashdown for the SpaceX Dragon Commercial Resupply-2 capsule in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja, Calif. The unpiloted Dragon is scheduled to descend with just less than 3,000 lb. of research gear, including preserved medical specimens collected from the station’s astronauts, samples from biology and biotechnology experiments and equipment in need of refurbishment.