. >> reporter: nasa administrator jim bridenstein. >> that is not what we were anticipating, the boats just made a beeline for it. there are things we're going to look at that we can do better next time. >> reporter: dragon looked like a giant charred marshmallow as it was hoisted aboard a spacex recovery ship. behnken and were pulled out okay. it will open a new era of commercial space flight. >> does it mean something to you guys in this new age to be the first? >> after you come back and it's successful, you know, bob and i can go hang out some place and have a beer and maybe then we can reflect on, you know, all those things. >> reporter: now after nine years of relying on the russians, america is back in the business of launching and landing astronauts. >> it took years to get here. we brought the capability back to america. and we came home safely to our families. >> reporter: time for that beer hurley talked about. we can all toast to that. >>> it all started out as a simple request from a customer. now a newspaper carrier has found a whole new mission in life. steve hartman fou