SpaceX Dragon capsule prepares for return to Earth

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Click Here for Full Coverage of the SpaceX Landing.

The International Space Station crew closed the hatch Wednesday on the first commercial spacecraft to visit the station, preparing for its departure early Thursday.

"Only a few countries have done this before, so we're not taking this lightly at all," John Couluris, SpaceX mission manager, said of the re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere during a news briefing Wednesday morning.

On Thursday, NASA astronaut Don Pettit will drive a robotic arm that pulls the unmanned Dragon from the Harmony node's Earth-facing port at 4:05 a.m. EDT.

The 58-foot arm is scheduled to release the capsule at 5:35 a.m. Dragon will perform three thruster firings to move away from the station and set up a de-orbit burn at 10:51 a.m.

Before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, the spacecraft will separate from its solar arrays. The unmanned capsule aims to splash down in the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles off the southern California coast around 11:45 a.m. EDT.

Ships and aircraft will have eyes on the Dragon, but it wasn't immediately clear if live TV views would be available.

Recovery ships departed Monday evening from Los Angeles. The primary recovery vessel is a 140-foot commercial ship operated by American Marine.

The Dragon launched its demonstration mission May 22 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and docked at the space station Friday, delivering a half ton of food and other cargo. The spacecraft was packed with 1,455 pounds of cargo for its return to Earth, including crew items, experiment hardware, station components and some spacewalking gear.

Its successful return would enable SpaceX to begin regular station resupply runs under a $1.6 billion NASA contract.