The docking Friday marked the first time a business enterprise delivered a supply ship to the space station."
"There's so much that could have gone wrong and it went right," said an elated Elon Musk, the young, driven billionaire behind SpaceX.
"This really is, I think, going to be recognised as a significantly historical step forward in space travel — and hopefully the first of many to come."
SpaceX still has to get its Dragon back next week with a load of science gear; the retro bell-shaped capsule is designed to splash down into the ocean, in the style of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes. But Friday was the crucial step, Musk noted, and NASA agreed the next SpaceX mission could come as early as September.
After a three-day flight from Cape Canaveral, the Dragon closed in on the space station as two control centres — NASA in Houston and SpaceX in Hawthorne, California — worked in tandem. A problem with the capsule laser-tracking system prompted SpaceX controllers to order a temporary retreat, but the problem was quickly resolved.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Dragon-docks-with-space-station_11553078#ixzz1w3pvZoOP
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