Historic Day in Spaceflight

Hey Space Placers!

History was made today with the successful launch at 10:43 a.m. of Space Exploration Technology Corporation's (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon capsule from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's launch complex 40.

After two orbits the Dragon capsule re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and was recovered.

This is the first time in history that a commercial company has recovered a spacecraft from orbit. Only government programs have done this before.

This is a huge step forward in the commercial orbiting program that NASA and several companies are pursuing. The goal is to use commercial rockets and spacecraft to ferry cargo and ultimately astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Once the Space Shuttle program is completed - there are only two flights left - the US will have to rely on Russia and its' Soyuz spacecraft to get supplies and astronauts to ISS.

For more information on the Falcon 9 and Dragon go to:
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/c3po/home/cots_project.html
http://www.spacex.com/

 Well done SpaceX.

Sky Guy in VA