Splashdown! Alia's space station experiment has come down to Earth

SpaceX reports successful landing of capsule containing Genes in Space samples

Dragon capsule containing Genes In Space Alia Al Mansooris' DNA experiment is released from the International Space Station at the start of its five hour journey back to Earth.

It’s been orbiting the Earth for over a month, but Genes in Space winner Alia Al Mansoori’s experiment has safely returned from its journey to the International Space Station.

Several hours after undocking, the Dragon capsule survived the heat of re-entry to splashdown safely in the Pacific just off the coast of California late on Sunday.

SpaceX, the private company that launched the mission reported “Good splashdown of Dragon confirmed” at 07.17 local time and five hours after it was undocked from the ISS.

After astronaut Peggy Whitson completed the Dubai teenager’s experiment, it was packed in dry ice ready to be sent back to the 15-year-old.

Following its recovery, the experiment will be first flown to Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston and then to Boston.

Only then will Alia be reunited with her experiment and find out what changes the time in space has had on her samples. The Al Mawakeb school pupil, who aims to be the first Emirati astronaut, hopes to discover how space travel might affect DNA.