Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s supply ship returned to Earth hours after leaving the International Space Station.
Closely held SpaceX, controlled by billionaire Elon Musk, on May 25 became the first company to dock a craft at the station. The feat was previously accomplished only by the U.S., European, Japanese and Russian governments.
The ship parachuted down and splashed into the Pacific Ocean at 11:42 a.m. New York time, about 500 miles off the coast of southern California. It returned with about 1,400 pounds of cargo.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retired its shuttle fleet last year and wants the private sector to take over ferrying supplies and eventually astronauts to the station. SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, may begin regular resupply missions to the lab in September.
Astronauts released the so-called Dragon capsule from the station’s 60-foot-long robotic arm at 5:49 a.m., according to NASA.
“Dragon smoothly undocked, moved out, released and on its way home,” Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers tweeted from the space station. “Job done!” he wrote in another post. SpaceX Launch
SpaceX had boats waiting just outside the landing area to recover the vehicle, including a barge, crew boat and two inflatable craft.
The company launched its Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the capsule, in a predawn liftoff on May 22 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A previously scheduled attempt on May 19 was called off with a half-second left in the countdown because of a faulty engine valve.
The mission, which came almost three years late, was praised by supporters as a historic first for commercial spaceflight. The Dragon craft, like the shuttle and unlike others that now service the station, has the ability to return significant amounts of science experiments to Earth.
Musk said he wants SpaceX to launch astronauts in three or four years.
Orbital Sciences Corp. (ORB), based in Dulles, Virginia, plans to fly its new Antares rocket in August from a new launch pad near Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. It’s scheduled to deliver supplies to the station with its Cygnus craft in December as part of a test mission similar to SpaceX’s.
Other companies working with NASA include Chicago-based Boeing Co. (BA); Kent, Washington-based Blue Origin LLC, created by Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN); and Sierra Nevada Corp., based in Sparks, Nevada.
