Wednesday, October 31, 2012

First contracted cargo flight a success for NASA

NASA's first contract cargo delivery via an unmanned SpaceX cargo capsule went smoothly, and the spacecraft made it safely back from the International Space Station Sunday.

SpaceX CRS-1 delivered 882 pounds of supplies to the space lab, including 260 pounds of crew supplies, 390 pounds of scientific research, 225 pounds of hardware and several other supplies.

This was the first mission of 12 planned cargo resupply trips to the space station by SpaceX under NASA's $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract. SpaceX and Orbital Sciences are the two companies under contract to build and test new cargo spacecraft for NASA.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft was released from the station's robotic arm Sunday at 6:26 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The spaceship splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at around 12:22 p.m., about 250 miles off southern California.

"This historic mission signifies the restoration of America's ability to deliver and return critical space station cargo," said SpaceX CEO and Chief Technical Officer Elon Musk.

For more of the Wire Update story: wireupdate.com

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