Now, after completing this historic mission, SpaceX is offering an exciting video of the mission. Its article SpaceX presents epic Dragon mission highlight reel states, "On 25 May 2012, an uncrewed variant of Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS)."
And, "When SpaceX's Dragon capsule successfully splashed down into the warm embrace of the Pacific ocean a few months ago, it meant that commercial spaceflight had finally arrived and was here to stay."
Modestly, SpaceX says, "We covered the mission from start to finish, but a new video from SpaceX itself (with lots of unique footage from launch to landing) is definitely worth a few minutes of your time."
And, "The mission was an unqualified success, of course, and it was carried live on NASATV, but SpaceX (being justifiably pumped about what it's accomplished) has put together this little montage on its own. The best part (you know, besides all the space stuff) is seeing the SpaceX employees react to what they've just accomplished: we can only imagine what being part of such a team and such an event would feel like."
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SpaceX also offers a chronology of the mission highlights. See below:
- May 22: Launch Day: SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched the Dragon spacecraft into orbit from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
- May 23: Dragon orbited Earth as it traveled toward the International Space Station.
- May 24: Dragon's sensors and flight systems were subjected to a series of tests to determine if the vehicle was ready to attach to the space station.
- May 25: NASA gave Dragon the GO to attempt berthing with the station. Dragon approached. It was successfully captured by the station's robotic arm.
- May 26: US astronaut Don Pettit opened Dragon's hatch and the astronauts entered.
- May 31: After six days at the International Space Station, Dragon departed for its return to Earth, carrying a load of cargo for NASA. SpaceX completed its historic mission when Dragon splashed down safely in the Pacific.
Besides, SpaceX, only four governments -- the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency -- had achieved this feat of successfully attaching to the International Space Station.
