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A capsule built by L.A.-based SpaceX, the first privately-funded company to partner with NASA and transport cargo to the Space Station , returned safely from its historic mission to Earth today.
The Dragon capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean a few hundred miles off of the Southland coast around 9 a.m., according to City News Service.
It docked with the Space Station on Friday delivering more than 1,000 pounds of cargo to the astronauts. The capsule left from the station at 1:07 a.m. today, according to the report.
SpaceX, a private aerospace company located in Hawthorne, just a few miles east of LAX, hoped that this mission would prove its worth to NASA and lead to ongoing flights transporting cargo and eventually astronauts. The company will now begin more than a dozen flights to the station, but only cargo missions are planned for now.
Watch NASA's video of the Dragon being released this morning from the Space Station:
