SpaceX debuts Starfall cargo reentry capsule

SpaceX launched the debut flight of Starfall, a disk-shaped cargo reentry capsule, aboard a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral at 6:52 a.m. EDT on June 23. About 3.1 meters in diameter and able to carry roughly 1,000 kg, the vehicle is designed to return research and orbital-manufacturing payloads - such as pharmaceuticals - to Earth, splashing down about 700 nautical miles off the U.S. West Coast. The demonstration marks SpaceX's entry into the commercial cargo-return market and is the first of at least two planned Starfall test flights.