Splashdown
SpaceX all-civilian orbital crew completes historic mission
Four space tourists safely ended their trailblazing trip to orbit on Sept. 18 with a splashdown in the Atlantic off the Florida coast.
Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the ocean just before sunset, not far from where their chartered flight began three days earlier.
The all-amateur crew was the first to circle the world without a professional astronaut.
SpaceX returns 4 astronauts to Earth; rare night splashdown
SpaceX returned four astronauts from the International Space Station on May 2, making the first U.S. crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot.
The Dragon capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, just before 3 a.m., ending the second astronaut flight for Elon Musk's company.
NASA's Orion capsule blasts off on 'first step' to Mars
The U.S. space agency's Orion capsule blasted off Dec. 5 on its first journey into orbit, in a key test flight before carrying people to deep space destinations like Mars in the coming years.
The unmanned spacecraft soared to space at 7:05 a.m. (1205 GMT) atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket that rumbled and roared as it climbed above the Florida coast at sunrise.