A Space Exploration Technologies passenger spaceship made a quick debut test flight on Wednesday, shooting itself off a Florida launchpad to demonstrate a key emergency escape system.
The 20-foot-tall (6-meter) Dragon capsule, a modified version of the spacecraft that flies cargo to the International Space Station, fired up its eight, side-mounted thruster engines at 9 a.m. EDT/1300 GMT to catapult nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) up and over the Atlantic Ocean.
The flight ended less than two minutes later with the capsule's parachute splash-down about 1.4 miles (2.6 km) east of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch site.