The Register®

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/08/spacex_dragon_splashdown/

SpaceX Dragon bathes in the Pacific

'Mission is a success!'

By Rik Myslewski in San Francisco

Posted in Science, 8th December 2010 20:14 GMT

Watch Now : Virtual Machine Movement with Hyper-V

The Dragon has landed.

Multi-entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX Dragon capsule, launched Wednesday [1] from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard the company's Falcon 9 rocket, splashed down successfuly in the Pacific after completing its two-orbit circumnavigation of Planet Earth.

In a subtly understated tweet early Wednesday afternoon Cape Canaveral time, the SpaceX crew informed the waiting world: "SPLASHDOWN!!! [2]"

That victory cry was followed by the more-reserved announcement [3]: "SpaceX is the first commercial company to reenter a spacecraft from space!"

Subsequent tweets [4] noted that the landing was on target, the mission was a success, and that floatation devices had been attached to the victorious voyager.

A post-mission press conference will be hosted by NASA at 3:30pm, Eastern Standard time, and will be carried on NASA TV [5].

We here at The Reg — no strangers to space flight [6] ourselves — offer our hearty congratulations to the intrepid Muskonauts.

Well played, indeed. ®