A SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean carrying about 1,678 kg of experiment results and cargo from the International Space Station, NASA said.
It was the first return load from the station in a year, following a SpaceX launch accident in June 2015 that destroyed another unmanned Dragon capsule.
The company's Dragon capsules are currently the only ships that can return cargo from the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp, known as SpaceX, resumed Dragon flights to the station last month.
Ground controllers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston earlier used the station's robot arm to pluck the unmanned capsule from its berthing port and position it for release into space.
British astronaut Timothy Peake, working from inside the space station's cupola module, then commanded the crane to free its grip at 9:19 a.m. EDT/1319 GMT as the station sailed over Australia so Dragon could begin its ride back to Earth.
"Dragon spacecraft has served us well. It's good to see it departing full of science and we wish it a safe recovery back on planet Earth," Peake radioed to...
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