Going forward, the LLCD will play a vital part in NASA's 2017 Laser Communications Relay Demonstration, a key test of laser-based relay comms in future missions.
The data are sent from the orbiting outpost to NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, which relay it to the satellite reception dishes at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.
In the seventh instance, in 2000, the U.S. crossed the finish line first but later had the victory revoked after one relay member was found to have been improperly cleared of a positive drug test years earlier.