SpaceX's unmanned Dragon cargo ship successfully undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) Sunday morning and is making its return to Earth.

The CRS-24 cargo ship successfully exited the Space Station's "keep out sphere" at 10:40 a.m. after a previously scheduled attempt was postponed due to bad weather at its splashdown location off the Florida coast, according to statements from SpaceX. The keep out sphere is a 200-meter radius around the ISS.

NASA transmitted the undocking live on NASA TV and on its social media platforms.

The Dragon is expected to have a "parachute-assisted splashdown" off the coast of Panama City, Florida at approximately 3:05 p.m CT Monday, according to NASA. The splashdown will not be transmitted live, but NASA's space station blog will provide updates.

The experiments on board the Dragon will be transported to NASA's Space Station Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center after landing.

"Splashing down off the coast of Florida enables quick transportation of the experiments to NASA's Space Station Processing Facility at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, allowing researchers to collect data with minimal sample exposure to Earth's gravity," NASA said.

The cargo ship is bringing back medical supplies along with more than 4,900 pounds of valuable "cargo and research," NASA's mission control said during its transmission.

This includes a retired light imaging microscope, which has been supporting numerous scientific investigations for 12 years, as well as samples from studies on colloids.

Cytoskeleton, an investigation to analyze the impact of microgravity on cellular signaling molecules, is also on board the Dragon.

"This investigation contributes to our understanding of how the human body responds to microgravity and could support development of countermeasures to help crew members maintain optimum health on future missions," NASA said.

The Dragon launched on December 21, delivering hardware, research, and crew supplies to the ISS. The cargo ship's return will mark SpaceX's 24th "commercial resupply services mission for NASA," according to the space research agency.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — As the pandemic upended our lives, an invisible workforce helped keep some normalcy intact. Traveling the world on oil tankers and cargo ships, seafarers deliver everything from food to fuel, medicine, and personal protective equipment (PPE).

“We were just working a lot," said Michael Napoleone. "We were putting in from eight to 12-hour days, every single day."

As a supply officer, Napoleone delivers fuel, food, and cargo to U.S. Navy ships at sea. Working thousands of miles from home, he's accustomed to long shifts and missed holidays. But during the pandemic, his assignment no longer had an expiration date.

“I was supposed to be gone for four months," said Napoleone. “We saw about three ports, and we were not allowed to leave or talk to anybody or get off the ship for 11 months. We were stuck onboard just going stir crazy.”

Typically, around 100,000 crew changes take place every month. But border closures and COVID-19 restrictions have prevented seafarers from going home and taking shore leave, forcing thousands to work months beyond their contracts.

"You wake up early. Maybe you go to the gym. Eat, work, and then go to sleep," said Napoleone.

At the peak, he was among 400,000 seafarers trapped at sea.

“I described it to some people like, you see those caged animals in the zoo and they’re kind of pacing. You can see that they’re stressed, but it’s like a sort of dull, constant stress. That’s what it was like," said Napoleone.

Last September, the secretary general of the United Nations appealed for governments to act on behalf of seafarers and other maritime workers stuck at sea for months, and in some cases, more than a year.

The UN passed a resolution, calling for an urgent response from all stakeholders, including the private sector, to resolve the situation.

Napoleone says social isolation brought on by the pandemic is amplified at sea.

“We would lose internet for a month at a time: no Facetime, no Zoom, no nothing. You're in the middle of the ocean. That stuff doesn't exist out there," Napoleone said.

After 11 months on the ship, he was finally able to fly home to San Diego.

“[I'm] great, happy. Much happier to see trees again, talk with people, play with dogs.”

He’s now preparing for another trip; one on solid ground.

“I’m going to go hike the Continental Divide Trail," Napoleone said with a smile. "A big, long, 3,000-mile journey.”