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SpaceX Dragon capsule launched to space station on supply run

A commercial cargo ship rocketed into orbit in October en route to the international space station, the first of a dozen supply runs under a mega-contract with NASA.

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Oct. 28, 2012 

The Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Dragon spacecraft is carried on a transport vessel after it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 3:22 p.m. EST Sunday, a few hundred miles west of Baja California, Mexico. The splash-down successfully ended the first contracted cargo delivery flight contracted by NASA to resupply the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule will be taken by boat to a port near Los Angeles, where it will be prepared for a return journey to SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Tex., for processing. Returning with the Dragon capsule was 1,673 pounds of cargo, including 866 pounds of scientific research. Not since the space shuttle have NASA and its international partners been able to return considerable amounts of research and samples for analysis.

/ SpaceX via European Pressphoto Agency

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