( CNN ) -- The first commercial spacecraft to return from a low-Earth orbit splashed into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday about 500 miles off the coast of Southern California . The Dragon , a craft developed by the company SpaceX , was concluding a brief but possibly historic flight for the infant commercial space travel industry . The vehicle hit the water shortly after 2 p.m . ET , a little more than three hours after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral , Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket . Before splashing down , the Dragon orbited earth at more than 17,000 mph . Only six nations or government agencies have recovered a spacecraft from a low orbit : the United States , Russia , China , Japan , India and the European Space Agency . Wednesday 's landing was also the first flight under NASA 's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program . The program aims to develop commercial supply services to the international space station . NASA Administrator Charles Bolden praised the mission . `` These new explorers are to spaceflight what Lindbergh was to commercial aviation , '' he said Wednesday . `` While rocket launches from the Cape are considered a common occurrence , the historic significance of today 's achievement by SpaceX should not be lost . '' Bolden said the mission reflected a new generation of commercial launch systems that would support the international space station and that could eventually carry astronauts into orbit . It also coincides with the scaling back of some publicly funded space programs . NASA is set to retire its shuttle fleet in 2011 . President Barack Obama 's administration would like to see whether private companies can do the fleet 's job cheaper and more efficiently . `` This successful demonstration flight is an important milestone in meeting the objectives outlined by President Obama and Congress , and shows how government and industry can leverage expertise and resources to foster a new and vibrant space economy , '' Bolden said of Wednesday 's flight . In July , a test launch of the Falcon 9 rocket was `` essentially a bulls-eye , '' SpaceX officials said after the rocket successfully pushed past Earth 's atmosphere and deposited a mock-up of its Dragon space capsule in orbit . NASA has been flying shuttles in low Earth orbit for nearly 30 years and going to and from the space station for more than a decade . NASA has selected SpaceX and another company , Orbital Sciences , to each develop an orbital vehicle that could be used when the United States no longer has its own way to get to the space station . In the meantime , the United States will be renting space from the Russians aboard their Soyuz spacecraft . The competition is rabid . SpaceX is the first company to reach the launch pad . By this summer , it had spent almost $ 400 million to get there . SpaceX currently holds a $ 1.6 billion contract from NASA to transport cargo , but not people , into space . SpaceX CEO Elon Musk , co-founder of PayPal , said in July that if all goes well after a series of test flights , SpaceX will be ready to begin flying cargo to the space station next year . Musk says it could begin ferrying astronauts to the space station within three years . `` We want to see a future where we are exploring the stars , where we 're going to other planets , where we 're doing the great things that we read about in science fiction and in the movies , '' he said in July . Other entrepreneurs in the emerging commercial space travel business say flights will no longer be confined to astronauts . Spaceport America , a commercial launch facility in Truth or Consequences , New Mexico , is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2011 . The company 's main tenant , Virgin Galactic , hopes to launch short tourist excursions into space in the near future . CNN 's Michael Martinez and Rich Phillips contributed to this report .
SpaceX 's Falcon 9 had a brief but possibly historic flight . NASA official cites `` historic significance of today 's achievement by SpaceX '' If tests continue to go well , SpaceX could be flying cargo by next year , CEO says .