FAA Gives Spacecraft Re-Entry License to SpaceX

Just like the DMV!

FAA Gives Spacecraft Re-Entry License to SpaceX - ABC News

FAA grants California-based SpaceX 1st commercial license for spacecraft to return from orbit - The Associated Press

Technology entrepreneur Elon Musk's California-based space launch firm has become the first commercial company to receive a Federal Aviation Administration license to allow an orbiting spacecraft to return to Earth.

Hawthorne-based SpaceX says the FAA issued the license Monday.

SpaceX plans a December launch of one of its Falcon 9 rockets carrying a capsule dubbed Dragon. The mission calls for the capsule to go into low-Earth orbit then re-enter the atmosphere and land in the ocean.

So far, only six nations or governmental agencies have performed the feat.

The SpaceX mission will be performed under a NASA program to develop commercial supply service to the international space station.

SpaceX hopes to one day carry astronauts aboard its Dragon capsules.

[Where were they going if the weren't issued the license?]