French wine and vines splashdown after year in space for scientific research

SpaceX’s supply ships previously parachuted into the Pacific.

SpaceX’s Dragon undocking from International Space Station. Picture: NASA via AP

The International Space Station bid adieu on Tuesday to 12 bottles of French Bordeaux wine and hundreds of snippets of grapevines that spent a year orbiting the world in the name of science.

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule undocked with the wine and vines – and thousands of pounds of other gear and research, including mice – and aimed for a splashdown on Wednesday night in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa.