Taking on space -- privately

I've been busy lately, but I certainly haven't missed out on following this story, which is probably the most significant advancement in space exploration since the moon landings.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean Thursday at 11:42am ET in a momentous end to the California company's test mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

"Splashdown successful!! Sending fast boat to Dragon lat/long provided by P3 tracking planes," wrote SpaceX founder Elon Musk on Twitter.

...

Dragon will be shipped to the Port of Los Angeles and will then go to SpaceX's McGregor, Texas, facility, about 100 miles (160km) south of Dallas, where its 1,000 pounds (450kg) of cargo will be processed and handed over to NASA.

“This is a really huge step in restoring the supply line to the space station that we lost,” former astronaut Tom Jones told Fox News.

“More important, it restores a return link,” he added, notably for scientific samples returning from space but also for the day to day gear and waste that is created by the astronauts working aboard the orbiting station.

(from Fox News)

And, more importantly, it was a private venture. We need more of these, and I hope the success of the Dragon capsule speeds things up significantly.