SpaceX Becomes First Commerical Space Program To Orbit Earth, Return Safely

Space X: great success! Yes, the Dragon spacecraft successfully made its orbits around good ol’ Planet Earth and has safely crashed into the Pacific Ocean. It marks the first time a commercial spacecraft has done so.

CNN handily points out that only five countries have done the same thing, and they are the U.S., Russia, China, Japan, and India. Throw in the European Space Agency’s efforts and that brings the number of entities to six.

And now Space X has joined the club.

The next big step would be for the Space X program to rendezvous with the International Space Station, which would pretty much be insane.