SpaceX craft splashes down in Pacific after successful launch

SpaceX craft splashes down in Pacific after successful launch

(CNN) -- SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket splashed down in the Pacific Ocean Wednesday afternoon, culminating a brief, though possibly historic flight for the infant commercial space travel industry.
The craft hit the water several hundred miles off the coast of Mexico shortly after 2 p.m. ET, a little more than three hours after liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, officials said.
NASA spokesman Josh Byerly told CNN that the Dragon spacecraft splashed down "right on target."
"Everything looks good," he said.
The successful launch and apparently successful re-entry could be significant steps toward commercial space ventures that could eventually ferry astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station. It also coincides with the scaling back of some publicly funded space programs.

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