SpaceX Crew Dragon splashdown moves US space launches step closer

Developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the capsule was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket (a  two stage system specially designed to transport satellites and the astronauts into orbit) and splashed down off the coast of Cape Canaveral on Friday 8^th March after returning from a five-day mission docked to the International Space Station (ISS). The capsule is the first commercially-built and operated American crew spacecraft to dock with the space station.

Although the flight was unmanned it did carry a lifelike test device named Ripley, which was outfitted with sensors to provide data about potential effects on humans traveling in the spacecraft.

After SpaceX processes data from this mission, teams will begin refurbishing the capsule for its next mission, an in-flight abort test targeted to take place this summer. Demo-2, the first crewed test flight, will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on the spacecraft’s final flight before its certified for routine operational missions. This crewed flight, would mark the first launch to the space station from US soil since 2011, when the final shuttle mission took place.