First commercial orbiting spacecraft

[Platapus]

Most cooleo.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/08/spa...ex.html?hpt=T2

A space-age first: A commercial craft returns from low-Earth orbit

The first commercial spacecraft to return from a low-Earth orbit splashed into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday about 500 miles off the coast of Southern California.

The Dragon, a craft developed by the company SpaceX, was concluding a brief but possibly historic flight for the infant commercial space travel industry.


The vehicle hit the water shortly after 2 p.m. ET, a little more than three hours after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket.


Before splashing down, the Dragon orbited earth at more than 17,000 mph.


Only six nations or government agencies have recovered a spacecraft from a low orbit: the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India and the European Space Agency.


...

Sounds like it made a little more than two orbits.



Just. plain. cool.