Commercial space flight took another step forward Tuesday (10.02.2015) as the SpaceX Dragon freighter safely returned to earth from the International Space Station (ISS).

The unmanned craft left the ISS at 2:10 p.m. EST (19:10 GMT) and splash-landed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California just over five hours later. The vehicle was carrying nearly 1,700 kilograms (almost 2 tons) of cargo - including scientific materials, research equipment, 3D printed parts and even a faulty spacesuit. There were no astronauts on board.

The smooth landing was another victory for United States-based commercial space flight company SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk, who also heads electric car company Tesla Motors. It was the fifth successful roundtrip mission to the ISS performed by the company for NASA.

Landings becoming routine

Currently, the Dragon craft is the only space cargo vessel in the world that is capable of making the return trip back to earth. For scientists and researchers with experiments returning from the ISS onboard, the safe landing was a relief.

The pioneering work of SpaceX appears to be making commercial space travel with private companies viable. Space travel experts in Germany say they only pay passing attention to successful launches and landings now.

"It's becoming more routine for us," said Johannes Weppler, a scientist at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). "We notice it and are happy when things are successful - but it's not that we are anticipating these things," he told DW.

Weppler praised SpaceX, adding that he has high confidence in the quality of the company's work. "They have put on a program that is very impressive and has a lot of potential for the future," Weppler said.

Still a risky buisness

But Weppler acknowledged that there are still risks involved with each launch and landings performed by private space companies. Yesterday's successful mission by SpaceX comes just three months after a spectacular failure by another private US space company, Orbital Sciences.

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SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft splashes down after trip to ISS