spacetoday.net: SpaceX receives commercial reentry license

Posted: Tue, Nov 23, 2010, 7:00 AM ET (1200 GMT)
SpaceX Dragon illustration (SpaceX)

SpaceX announced Monday that it has received a reentry license for its Dragon spacecraft, a key regulatory milestone towards the first demonstration flight of its cargo spacecraft. SpaceX received the license from the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation on Monday, allowing SpaceX to reenter its Dragon spacecraft and splashdown off the California coast. It's the first such license granted by the FAA, which also licenses commercial orbital and suborbital launches. SpaceX is planning to make the first demonstration mission of its Dragon spacecraft under its COTS agreement with NASA no earlier than December 7. On that flight the Falcon 9 rocket will place a Dragon spacecraft in orbit; the Dragon will make several orbits before reentry. SpaceX plans to eventually use the Dragon to transport cargo, and perhaps later crews, to and from the International Space Station.