A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship made a parachute return into the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, while high winds in Florida scrapped plans for the company's Falcon rocket launch, NASA said.

The Dragon capsule departed the International Space Station at 19:10 GMT and splashed down about 260 miles (418 km) southwest of Long Beach, California, about 5½ hours later.

The Dragon was loaded with nearly 4,000 pounds (1,814 kg) of returning science experiments and equipment, including two faulty components from spacesuits that NASA wants to analyze before clearing astronauts for a trio of spacewalks later this month.