Thaindian News

By Gina Gomez
Cape Canaveral, Dec 9, (THAINDIAN NEWS) In what is being believed to be a major development in the commercial space industry, a commercially developed rocket was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday morning. Spacecraft Dragon which has been developed by the space transport company SpaceX, was able to successfully conduct a series of maneuvers during two orbits in a bid to replicate pivotal phases of a meeting with the International Space Station and operate accordingly. About three hours after its launching, the spacecraft made its way towards the Pacific following its circling of the globe twice.

The SpaceX developed Dragon spaceship which was launched on the rocket Falcon 9, was able to reach the orbit at a distance of 300 kms just few moments after its separation from the rocket following its launch. It then carried out a number of planned maneuvers in the orbit before its splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at a distance of 500 miles in the western direction of Baja California. While revealing details of the launch of Dragon, SpaceX officials have said that the spaceship was successful in achieving all the objectives that has been chalked out and in turn it became the first spacecraft that has been commercially to be launched into the orbit and then safely returning to Earth.

The successful launching of the Dragon must come as a huge relief for President Barack Obama who has expressed hopes that the private sector would be able to fulfill the void that would be left by the retirement of the space shuttle fleet. At the same time, the launch also marks a key development for NASA in the wake of the retirement of its space shuttle programme.