NASA chief to see history-making SpaceX capsule
by AP News Now
June 13, 2012 10:57 AM | 210 views | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend | print
In this image provided by NASA with rays of sunshine and the thin blue atmosphere of Earth serving as a backdrop, the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is berthed to the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station's Harmony node Sunday May 27, 2012. Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers grappled Dragon at 9:56 a.m. (EDT) with the Canadarm2 robotic arm and used it to berth Dragon to the at 12:02 p.m. May 25, 2012. Dragon became the first commercially developed space vehicle to be launched to the station. Dragon is scheduled to spend about a week docked with the station before returning to Earth on May 31 for retrieval. (AP Photo/NASA)
In this image provided by NASA with rays of sunshine and the thin blue atmosphere of Earth serving as a backdrop, the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is berthed to the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station's Harmony node Sunday May 27, 2012. Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers grappled Dragon at 9:56 a.m. (EDT) with the Canadarm2 robotic arm and used it to berth Dragon to the at 12:02 p.m. May 25, 2012. Dragon became the first commercially developed space vehicle to be launched to the station. Dragon is scheduled to spend about a week docked with the station before returning to Earth on May 31 for retrieval. (AP Photo/NASA)
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McGREGOR, Texas (AP) _ NASA’s administrator is to visit the history-making Dragon spacecraft at a Texas rocket factory.

Last month the world’s first commercial supply ship returned with 1,400 pounds of old equipment from the International Space Station.

The California-based SpaceX is the first private business to send a cargo ship to the space station.

On Wednesday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk will see the spacecraft at the company’s rocket factory in McGregor, about 150 miles southwest of Dallas.

The unmanned cargo ship splashed down May 31 into the Pacific Ocean, capping off a nine-day test flight.

It was the first time since the space shuttles stopped flying last summer that NASA got back a big load from the space station. SpaceX hopes to launch another capsule in September.

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