Challenged by an unprecedented series of "firsts" for its upcoming initial flight of Falcon 9 with a Dragon spacecraft, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) stresses that even if the vehicle is not recovered intact as planned, the mission should be judged an overall success. Unlike the first successful launch of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle in June with a representative Dragon, the planned flight in early December will launch an operational spacecraft to low Earth orbit. After as many as four orbits, the plan is for Dragon to reenter Earth's atmosphere and be recovered by parachute en route to a splashdown in the Pacific off the California coast.
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