First commercial spacecraft licensed to land

Image: Spacex.com

Technology entrepreneur Elon Musk's California-based space launch firm has become the first commercial company to receive a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) licence to allow an orbiting spacecraft to return to Earth.

Hawthorne-based SpaceX says the FAA issued the licence on Monday.

SpaceX plans a December launch of one of its Falcon 9 rockets carrying a capsule dubbed Dragon. The mission calls for the capsule to go into low-earth orbit, then re-enter the atmosphere and land in the ocean.

So far, only six nations or governmental agencies have performed the feat.

The SpaceX mission will be performed under a NASA program to develop commercial supply service to the international space station.

SpaceX hopes to one day carry astronauts aboard its Dragon capsules.

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