SpaceX Dragon capsule returns to Earth in fireball in most dramatic moment of pioneering journey
Successful splashdown changed how Nasa sends astronauts into space
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Your support makes all the difference.SpaceX’s brand new crew capsule has splashed down on Earth – and might have changed the future of space travel as it did.
It dropped into the Atlantic Ocean, right on time, bringing an end to a mission that went entirely successfully and paves the way for the capsule to carry astronauts to space.
The Dragon capsule pulled away from the orbiting lab early Friday, a test dummy named Ripley its lone occupant. It’s aiming for a morning splashdown in the Atlantic off Florida’s coast, the final hurdle of the six-day test flight. Saturday’s launch and Sunday’s docking were spot on.
NASA astronauts have been stuck riding Russian rockets since space shuttles retired eight years ago. NASA is counting on SpaceX and Boeing to start launching astronauts this year. SpaceX is aiming for summer.
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Recovery crews are now rushing to pick up the capsule. (Just as they will one day be rushing to get the crew that are planned to be inside.)
That recovery work is still ongoing. And will be for days and weeks yet, as SpaceX studies the data and objects that have come back to analyse the flight.
Still plenty of concentration – and no partying, yet – at SpaceX, as engineers work to make sure the capsule is safe and collected.
This is "Demo-1". But things won't be over until "Demo-2", when two astronauts will fly in the capsule, and allow the spacecraft to be fully certified for future missions.
The capsule has been grabbed, and is currently bobbing around in the ocean, looking like a big metallic whale
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