SpaceX's Crew Dragon Capsule Returns To Earth After Historic Test Flight (nbcnews.com)

SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule returned safely to Earth early Friday, wrapping up its inaugural mission to the International Space Station and signaling that the U.S. may soon be able to ferry astronauts to and from space without relying on Russian spacecraft. From a report: The uncrewed capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, off the east coast of Florida, at 8:45 a.m. ET after spending almost a week at the space station. The spacecraft undocked from the orbiting outpost Friday at 2:32 a.m. ET to begin its descent. "This is an amazing achievement in American history," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said from the space agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "These are all capabilities that are leading to a day where we are launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil." The Crew Dragon capsule was lofted into orbit March 2 by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The flight was a crucial test of the new spacecraft, a seven-passenger vehicle that SpaceX has been developing for the past five years.

Comments

Re: Congratulations on a great flight!

[Areyoukiddingme]

Including it's flawless inability to dock on its own.

It docked on its own. I watched it live.

Really, the transparent lies are kind of pathetic.

Re:Back to the future?

[Bruce Perens]

William Proxmire's grave is in Lake Forest Cemetery Lake Forest, Lake County, Illinois, USA. Piss on it for me, please.

Yes, cowardly, craven American politicians including Mr. Proxmire cancelled the last three Apollo missions when we already had the spacecraft for Apollo 18 sitting around, essentially ended manned space exploration for three generations (earth orbit is not exploration), and as far as I can tell achieved no real purpose with the money "saved", other than fighting stupid wars that cost much more than any space program. The Saturn V at the Saturn V Center in Florida is mostly the vehicle that should have flown as Apollo 18. There are also some pieces from Skylab missions, made to look like the Apollo versions.