The first mission of SpaceX's new astronaut taxi is in the books. The Crew Dragon capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast today (March 8) at 8:45 a.m. EST (1345 GMT), wrapping up a historic mission to the International Space Station (ISS). There were no astronauts aboard this flight, only the sensor-packed dummy Ripley named after a character from the "Alien" films. But the success of the test flight, known as Demo-1, helps paves the way for a crewed mission of the SpaceX vehicle, perhaps as early as this summer. That will be a huge milestone when it comes; astronauts haven't launched to orbit from American soil since NASA retired its space shuttle fleet in July 2011. Related: SpaceX Dragon Crew Demo-1 Test Flight: Full Coverage Image 1 of 9 SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 2:32 a.m. EST (0732 GMT) on March 8, 2019 to end its Demo-1 test flight for NASA. (Image credit: NASA TV) Image 2 of 9 SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 2:32 a.m. EST (0732 GMT) on March 8, 2019 to end its Demo-1 test flight for NASA. (Image credit: NASA TV) Image 3 of 9 SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 2:32 a.m. EST (0732 GMT) on March 8, 2019 to end its Demo-1 test flight for NASA. (Image credit: NASA TV) Image 4 of 9 SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 2:32 a.m. EST (0732 GMT) on March 8, 2019 to end its Demo-1 test flight for NASA. (Image credit: NASA TV) Image 5 of 9 SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 2:32 a.m. EST (0732 GMT) on March 8, 2019 to end its Demo-1 test flight for NASA. (Image credit: NASA TV) Image 6 of 9 SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft re-enters Earth's atmosphere in this still from a NASA video captured by a WB-57 reconnaissance plane taken before splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean on March 8, 2019. (Image credit: NASA TV) Image 7 of 9 A view of SpaceX's Crew Dragon under its four main parachutes. (Image credit: NASA TV) Image 8 of 9 SpaceX's first Crew Dragon capsule splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean on March 8, 2019, ending its uncrewed first test flight to the International Space Station. (Image credit: NASA TV) Image 9 of 9 Recovery teams reach SpaceX's first Crew Dragon in the Atlantic Ocean after its succesful splashdown. (Image credit: NASA TV) "Fifty years after humans landed on the moon for the first time, America has driven a golden spike on the trail to new space exploration feats through the work of our commercial partner SpaceX and all of the dedicated and talented flight controllers at NASA and our international partners," NASA astronaut Anne McClain radioed Mission Control from the ISS when Crew Dragon undocked from the orbiting lab earlier today. "This is a new era in human spaceflight," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Wednesday (March 6) during a webcast event with Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke to McClain and Canadian Space Agency's David Saint-Jacques from NASA's Mission Control center in Houston. NASA officials said there was a bit of Apollo history involved in today's Crew Dragon splashdown: It came nearly 50 years to the day after the Apollo 9 spacecraft returned to Earth in the same area on March 13, 1969. Related: SpaceX's Historic Crew Dragon Demo-1 Mission in Pictures A pioneering flight A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on March 2, 2019. (Image credit: SpaceX) NASA is currently dependent on Russian Soyuz rockets and spacecraft to ferry its astronauts to and from the ISS. And this service isn't cheap; each seat on the three-person Soyuz currently sells for about $80 million. So, in 2014, NASA signed commercial-crew contracts with SpaceX and Boeing — worth $2.6 billion and $4.2 billion, respectively — to foster the development of homegrown American spaceships. Like SpaceX, Boeing is building a capsule, called CST-100 Starliner . Back when the contracts were signed, NASA officials said they hoped these private spaceships would be up and running by the end of 2017. That didn't happen, of course. But both companies are now getting pretty close, as Demo-1 shows. The mission began Saturday morning (March 2) with a liftoff atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crew Dragon carried Ripley and about 450 lbs. (200 kilograms) of supplies for the ISS crew. Also aboard was the adorable "Little Earth" Celestial Buddies plush toy as a "zero-g" indicator. That toy will remain aboard the station — it will be retrieved by SpaceX's first astroanut crew later this year — but Crew Dragon did return about 330 lbs. (150 kg) of experiment results and other gear to Earth on this flight, NASA officials said. The main goal of Demo-1 was to test the capsule's many systems in flight, to make sure Crew Dragon is ready to carry astronauts. And the private spacecraft seems to have hit all its marks. Crew Dragon docked autonomously at the ISS Sunday morning (March 3) and then stayed attached to the orbiting lab for five days. The capsule departed at 2:32 a.m. EST (0732 GMT) today, survived the fiery descent through Earth's atmosphere, deployed its parachutes and splashed down gently into the Atlantic's rolling waves, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) off the Florida coast. None of this was routine. Crew Dragon is based on SpaceX's robotic Dragon freighter , which has been flying resupply missions to the ISS under a separate NASA contract since 2012. But the two capsules are very different, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said. "Dragon 2, or Crew Dragon, is a fundamental redesign," Musk said during a postlaunch news conference Saturday. There's "hardly a part in common with Dragon 1," he added.<doc-sep>View this post on Instagram Splash down! SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft lands in the Atlantic, the culmination of its mission to the International Space Station. Next up: flying crew.<doc-sep>There were cheers in California and Florida mission control rooms when the SpaceX Dragon-2 capsule landed in the Atlantic during today’s historic test flight. But the mission wasn’t complete when the space capsule hit the water. For some of the SpaceX engineers, the work had just begun. This was the first time that SpaceX’s recovery team deployed on the Go Searcher ocean vessel to recover a capsule that had returned from space. This is a pivotal moment in any space mission that end with a water landing, and it must be designed and rehearsed as much as any launch system. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Crew Dragon is on SpaceX’s recovery vessel—completing the spacecraft’s first test mission! pic.twitter.com/6K0qgnHd4O — SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 8, 2019 According to NASA, the trip home started five hours after Dragon departed the space station, when SpaceX's capsule conducted its 15-minute de-orbit burn. Just over a half -hour later, Dragon reentered Earth’s atmosphere, aero-braking to slow down, then popped two drogue parachutes. As the capsule grew closer to the planet, four main chutes bloomed overhead. As soon as the capsule hit the waves, the recovery crew jumped into action. Two speedboats raced toward the landing area, splitting up as they grew closer. One headed to secure the capsule with some lines while the other started to recover the four main parachutes. The Go Searcher is a registered cargo vessel, 50 meters long and 11 meters wide. The boat approached the capsule stern-first, backing up to get closer. The waves were minimal and the sun was shining, making it a good day for a test. The crew connected a deck winch to the lines that the smaller boats attached to the capsule, and then started to reel in the Dragon like it’s a hooked marlin. A deck crane stands at the ready, gripping the capsule and hauling it on board. SpaceX planned the recovery to take “a half hour to an hour," but today’s test took a little longer, although company officials didn’t report any specific difficulties. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Successful splashdown of the #CrewDragon right on time at 8:45 a.m. ET. pic.twitter.com/0qHhHzD4Js — NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) March 8, 2019 There were no astronauts on board Dragon today, but the mission was a dress rehearsal for what to do if they were. Go Searcher has a medical bay where astronauts or other passengers will receive an immediate checkup. Medical personnel who will do this met the capsule today, but they deployed on a different ship called the Go Navigator. Typical launches would only be tended by the Go Searcher, but the additional staff on board necessitated a second ship, NASA officials say. Although most astronaut recoveries are to be made fairly close to shore—the capsule will take 30 hours to come to port after today’s test flight—Go Searcher is designed for longer times at sea. The ship’s crew and freshly arrives passengers can live onboard for weeks if they need to. There’s a helicopter pad on the ship in case of emergencies or to satisfy a customer who doesn’t want to wait. The seaworthiness of the ship speaks to a client base that is wider than just NASA. Soon, SpaceX will be offering rides to anyone in the world who wants to go into space. Go Searcher and ships like her may be appearing in places other than the Florida coast, and fetching capsules on missions that have nothing to do with NASA. Let the new age begin. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>Elon Musk’s test mission has detached from the International Space Station. Elon Musk’s test mission has detached from the International Space Station.... SpaceX’s swanky new crew capsule made an old-fashioned splashdown in the Atlantic, ending a six-day test flight to the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule pulled away from the orbiting lab overnight. Six hours later, the capsule carrying a test dummy parachuted into the ocean, a couple hundred kilometres off the Florida coast. SpaceX employees cheered and applauded at company headquarters near Los Angeles when the red and white parachutes popped open. NASA televised the descent live, the dramatic views coming from a plane. The crowd went wild when splashdown occurred on time and the capsule was seen floating upright. “I’m kind of shaky and I’m super excited,” said Benji Reed, SpaceX’s director of crew mission management. “It was an incredible journey to get to this moment.” It was the first time in 50 years that a capsule designed for astronauts returned from space by plopping into the Atlantic. Apollo 9 — which orbited Earth in preparation for the moon landings — splashed down near the Bahamas on March 13, 1969. Space station astronauts have been stuck riding Russian rockets since NASA’s shuttles retired eight years ago. NASA is counting on SpaceX and Boeing to start launching astronauts this year. The splashdown was the final hurdle of SpaceX’s test flight. While improvements still need to be made, the company aims to fly NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on the next demo flight. A pair of recovery ships was stationed in the Atlantic well before splashdown and quickly moved in, ready to lift crew Dragon from the water and return it to Port Canaveral. All this is “leading to a day where we are launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Boeing plans to launch its Starliner capsule without a crew as early as next month and with astronauts possibly in August. The Starliner is designed to land on land — in the US Southwest. Canadian space station astronaut David Saint-Jacques was the first to enter the Dragon capsule and the last to leave this week. He found it “very slick” and called it business class. NASA’s Mr Bridenstine considers privately built and operated spacecraft the way to go when it comes to rides to the space station. NASA awarded the first contracts in 2014 to SpaceX and Boeing, now totalling about $8 billion. This first SpaceX test flight opens a new era, Mr Bridenstine said, with new technology and new business approaches. SpaceX acknowledges some capsule systems need more work before Mr Behnken and Mr Hurley climb aboard for lift-off, as early as July. Vibration, acoustic and other measurements were taken throughout the recently completed flight, not only of the capsule but also the mannequin — named Ripley after the lead character in the Alien films — which was strapped into one of the four seats. A small blue and green plush toy shaped like Earth — which SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk termed a zero-gravity indicator — was left behind on the space station. Mr Behnken and Mr Hurley will bring it back on their flight.<doc-sep>
After a six-day mission in orbit, SpaceX's Dragon capsule returned to Earth on Friday morning and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. The landing, at 8:45am ET, came right on schedule, as did pretty much every milestone during the Crew Dragon's first mission, a test before humans fly aboard the vehicle. Shortly after the landing, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell could be seen on NASA's webcast, walking around her company's mission control at its headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Shotwell spent a few minutes shaking the hands of each controller and offering a few hugs. Certainly, this triumphant moment capped an emotional week for a company that has worked for the better part of a decade to develop a crewed spacecraft. At first blush, the performance of Dragon appears to have met or exceeded NASA's hopes for this flight to the International Space Station, including during the critical descent back to Earth Friday morning. "The vehicle really did better than we expected," Steve Stich, deputy Commercial Crew program manager for NASA, said shortly after the landing. Over the last six days, among other milestones, SpaceX had to demonstrate the safe fueling of the Falcon 9 rocket, its launch, Dragon's separation and power performance in orbit, autonomous docking to the space station, undocking, a de-orbit burn, a controlled descent through Earth's atmosphere, and finally the deployment of four main parachutes on the way to a soft touchdown. Diving into data NASA will now spend the next few weeks reviewing data to ensure that its initial impression is correct, first by poring over data from the launch and then sensor data from the on-board mannequin, Ripley, as well as data from the vehicle itself during its orbital phase and re-entry. After the toasty-looking Dragon was taken on board the Go Searcher recovery vessel about an hour after landing Friday morning, it will take another 30 hours for Dragon to return to port. Once there, the capsule will undergo processing at Kennedy Space Center for another important test, an in-flight abort mission to ensure that the spacecraft can quickly push itself away from the rocket in case of an emergency. Stich said that flight should take place in the June time-frame using the same capsule that just splashed down. Much work, of course, remains to be done to get astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on board Dragon for their mission to the station. The parachute system that flew on this test flight was not entirely the same as the one that will be used for the crew flight, and neither were avionics and life support entirely finalized. But this test flight's success, along with its data, should allow SpaceX and NASA to close out those systems in the coming months. "I don’t think we saw anything in the mission so far that would preclude us from having a crewed mission later this year," Stich said Friday. "This flight really sets us up well for the rest of the year."