SpaceX capsule set for splashdown

Elon Musk just announced on twitter that the SpaceX team has gotten two of the Dragon Capsule's thrusters working, enough to get the capsule back under active control. Pods 1 and 4 now online and thrusters engaged. Dragon transitioned from free drift to active control. Yes!!

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A private rocket blasted off Friday on a supply run to the International Space Station. The unmanned Falcon rocket is owned by the SpaceX company. The Dragon capsule on board is filled with more than a ton of space station supplies and experiments. NASA is paying SpaceX to deliver cargo to the space station, and bring back science samples and other goods. This will be the company’s third delivery mission.

After thruster malfunctions following launch this morning, the Dragon Capsule has been forced to cancel tomorrow's planned rendezvous with the ISS. That's according to several people on twitter, including Dan Leone from Space News, and SpaceflightNow, who were listening to the feed from mission control:

The first private capsule to dock at the International Space Station will return to Earth Thursday, nine days after it took off on its historic mission.

If all continues to go well, a private spacecraft sent to orbit by the company SpaceX is expected to dock with the International Space Station Friday. The mission is historic because it is the first for the commercial spaceflight industry.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

SpaceX's Dragon space capsule, currently on the first contracted mission to resupply the International Space Station, is scheduled to return to Earth on Sunday afternoon.

The Hawthorne firm, celebrating its mission to the International Space Station, now turns to sending astronauts as well as cargo, and to building a huge new rocket to launch U.S.

Mission calls for SpaceX's Dragon capsule to take cargo to the International Space Station, as part of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.Hawthorne-based rocket venture Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, is planning to send a rocket to deliver cargo to the International Space Station later this year — a mission that takes the company one step closer to cashing in on a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.