A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in orbit. Courtesy SpaceX
SpaceX’s first-ever reused Dragon capsule successfully returned from a supply mission to the International Space Station Monday, splashing safely down in the Pacific Ocean.
The Hawthorne-based aerospace firm launched the spaceship in early June and spent 30 days in space. The mission marked the first re-flight of a Dragon capsule that had already flown to space once before. The capsule previously flew a mission in September-October 2014.
The Dragon spent 28 days docked to the International Space Station, delivering several thousand pounds of scientific experiments and equipment to the space station and returned to Earth with some of those experiment results.
The company’s busy day is expected to continue later Monday with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida — delivering Intelsat 35e, a commercial communications satellite, into orbit. The launch was originally scheduled to take place Sunday night, but was delayed for a computer issue.
Monday’s launch window opens at 4:37 p.m. California time.
—City News Service
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