SPACEX'S DRAGON SPACECRAFT RE-ENTERS SUCCESSFULLY

Lands on Target in the Pacific Ocean, 500 miles Off of the Coast of Southern California
SpaceX/NASA to Hold Post-Mission Press Conference at 3:30 PM EST

Cape Canaveral, FL – Today, SpaceX became the first commercial company in history to re-enter a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit.

SpaceX and NASA will have a post-mission press conference at 3:30 PM EST at the press site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Participants include:

• Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO (via satellite from Mission Control in Hawthorne, CA)
• Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President
• Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Manager

SpaceX launched its Dragon spacecraft into low-Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:43 AM EST from Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral.

The Dragon spacecraft orbited the Earth at speeds greater than 17,000 miles per hour, reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, and landed in the Pacific Ocean shortly after 2:00 PM EST.

This marks the first time a commercial company has successfully recovered a spacecraft reentering from low-Earth orbit. It is a feat performed by only six nations or government agencies: the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, and the European Space Agency.

It is also the first flight under NASA’s COTS program to develop commercial supply services to the International Space Station. After the Space Shuttle retires, SpaceX will fly at least 12 missions to carry cargo to and from the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Resupply Services contract for NASA. The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft were designed to one day carry astronauts; both the COTS and CRS missions will yield valuable flight experience toward this goal.

View the press kit: cots1-201012.pdf

I have always been fascinated with space and space exploration. Whether it is real-life or fiction I can’t get enough of it. And here we have the first non-governmental, commercial company to successfully recover a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit. Welcome in a new era. I can’t wait to see what this company and others will achieve over the next few years.