SpaceX completed a landmark mission on May 31 that saw its Dragon capsule deliver half a ton of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station and return safely to Earth.
This flight made history as the first privately built spacecraft to rendezvous with the International Space Station.
“We are hoping to continue working with NASA and hopefully flying crew within three years” said Elon Musk, the founder, CEO and chief designer for the Hawthorne, SpaceX.
NASA engineers worked closely with SpaceX throughout preparations for the uncrewed demonstration mission.
“As a country, we should be very proud” said Mike Suffredini, NASA International Space Station program manager. This agency gave a different thought process in spacecraft design and created a team that worked very well. The SpaceX team learned a lot and so did the NASA engineers.
SpaceX launched the Dragon capsule on top of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket at 3:44 am on May 22 to begin the chase of the space station. The Dragon began accomplishing a long list of operational “firsts” soon after reaching space. The first approach came on day three of the mission. Numerous tests were run on the spacecraft and its communications with the crew on the station.
The Dragon is the only cargo carrying spacecraft designed to return safely to the planet rather than burn up in the atmosphere.
Reversing the process a few days later, Pettit pulled Dragon away from its port on May 31 and released it to fly on its own again. Dragon released the trunk and its solar arrays before turning its heat shield toward Earth for the fiery plunge through the atmosphere. Descending under a canopy of parachutes, the Dragon splashed down hundreds of miles west of Baja California to be recovered by ships and taken to port.
“There was reason to doubt that we would succeed because there wasn’t a precedent for what we achieved” said Musk.
Keywords – Dragon, Musk, SpaceX, NASA engineers, Dragon capsule, spacecraft, splashed down, Baja California, Mike Suffredini.
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