The top NASA manager in charge of the agency's commercial cargo transportation program hailed SpaceX's demonstration flight to the International Space Station as a success and indicated approval for continued resupply missions under a $1.6 billion contract would be a mere formality.

Dragon spent six days at the International Space Station. Credit: NASA The Dragon spacecraft made an on-target splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, ending a nine-day mission that set out to prove the capsule's ability to safely reach the space station, deliver supplies, and return equipment to Earth.

The SpaceX-owned spacecraft will be the only vehicle in the space station's fleet of resupply freighters able to return to Earth intact with cargo. Other robotic cargo spacecraft built in Russia, Europe and Japan dispose of trash and burn up in the atmosphere.

Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA's commercial cargo development program, said the flight looked to be 100 percent successful.

"We'll get a quick-look report from SpaceX next week, and then we'll await a final post-flight report several weeks later," Lindenmoyer said.

NASA invested $396 million into SpaceX under a public-private partnership agreement signed in 2006. The space agency released payments to the California-based company as it met design, testing and flight milestones.

Following the announcement of the space shuttle's retirement, NASA started investigating new ways to transport critical spare parts, food, experiments, and other geat to the space station. But no companies had the ability to do the job, and NASA wished to set its sights on more ambitious expeditions into the solar system.

After surveying the market, NASA established the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program to help fund private development of rockets and spacecraft to resupply the space station.

"You have turned those hopes into a reality today," Lindenmoyer said to Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO and chief designer, following Thursday's splashdown.

SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. won agreements with the COTS program. Orbital's first flight to the space station could launch as soon as October.

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NASA expects quick start to SpaceX cargo contract