In this photo provided by NASA, the SpaceX Crew Dragon is pictured just beside the International Space Station. SpaceX's new crew capsule arrived at the station on Sunday in a remarkable moment for commercial space exploration.



Humans have entered SpaceX’s Crew Dragon while in orbit for the first time, just hours after the commercial spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on Sunday morning.

The new space vehicle, carrying only cargo and a human dummy, launched Saturday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On Sunday, the ISS crew watched as Crew Dragon became the first American commercial space vehicle designed to carry humans to dock at the station, according to NASA.

Astronauts David Saint-Jacques and Oleg Artemyev swung open the hatch and entered the capsule at 7:07 a.m. in Houston, where NASA employees watched. The successful maneuver was also greeted with cheers from the Hawthorne, Calif., headquarters of Elon Musk’s ambitious space company.

“Congratulations to all nations, private space firms and individuals who wake up every day driven by the magic of exploration,” American astronaut Anne McClain, the third crew member on the station, said at a welcoming ceremony broadcast over NASA TV. “This day belongs to all of us.”

The entire procedure was light on showmanship compared to SpaceX’s last major flight test, when the company launched a red Tesla into space on its Falcon Heavy rocket. But Sunday’s event was a major step forward for the company, which has so far only ferried cargo into and out of orbit.

“This is a good day,” said Saint-Jacques, an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency. “The first day of a new era for the next generation of space explorers.”

During Sunday’s mission, the ISS crew methodically checked off tasks, starting with atmospheric tests. After allowing the air in the craft to mix with the air in the station, the astronauts returned without oxygen masks to properly welcome Crew Dragon — by installing window covers and checking valves.

The crew also took selfies and videos, including a few shots with Crew Dragon’s second passenger, a small, stuffed Earth with limbs and a perplexed facial expression that bounced about the capsule in microgravity.

The successful demonstration brings the U.S. one step closer to once again sending people into orbit without relying on Russian space vehicles, which have ferried American astronauts to the International Space Station since NASA retired its shuttles in 2011.

Now, sensors on the dummy passenger will be able to offer a more complete picture of how a real human body will fare the trip in the new vehicle. That’ll become crucial when NASA eventually sends astronauts up in Crew Dragon, which could happen as early as this summer, if all tests go as planned.

Those handpicked space travelers, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, watched the Crew Dragon launch from Florida, then traveled to Hawthorne to see operations unfold along with the SpaceX team, according to NASA. The celebration was a milestone for Musk, who launched the company in 2002 with the goal of taking humans into space and one day colonizing Mars.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine marked Saturday’s launch with a tweet, writing that the moment marked “a new chapter in American excellence.”

More than 200 miles above the Earth, McClain and her crew mates offered a slightly different message. McClain called back to the early milestones in space exploration, including the first human to reach outer space – Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – and the 1969 moon landing by American spaceflight Apollo 11.

“These events remind us … that we can be united by a cause that is not based on fear, threat or common enemy, but rather on a bold endeavor,” she said. “An insatiable curiosity to go beyond what is known and to do what has never been done.”

The Crew Dragon is scheduled to remain docked for five days before returning to Earth on March 8.</s>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — America’s newest capsule for astronauts rocketed Saturday toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX.

The only passenger was a life-size test dummy, named Ripley after the lead character in the “Alien” movies. SpaceX needs to nail the debut of its crew Dragon capsule before putting people on board later this year.

This latest, flashiest Dragon is on a fast track to reach the space station Sunday morning, just 27 hours after liftoff.

It will spend five days docked to the orbiting outpost, before making a retro-style splashdown in the Atlantic next Friday — all vital training for the next space demo, possibly this summer, when two astronauts strap in.

“This is critically important ... We’re on the precipice of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil again for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. He got a special tour of the pad on the eve of launch, by SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk.

An estimated 5,000 NASA and contractor employees, tourists and journalists gathered in the wee hours at Kennedy Space Center with the SpaceX launch team, as the Falcon 9 rocket blasted off before dawn from the same spot where Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles once soared. Across the country at SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, company employees went wild, cheering every step of the way until the capsule successfully reached orbit.

Looking on from Kennedy’s Launch Control were the two NASA astronauts who will strap in as early as July for the second space demo, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. It’s been eight years since Hurley and three other astronauts flew the last space shuttle mission, and human launches from Florida ceased.

NASA turned to private companies, SpaceX and Boeing, and has provided them $8 billion to build and operate crew capsules to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. Now Russian rockets are the only way to get astronauts to the 250-mile-high outpost. Soyuz tickets have skyrocketed over the years; NASA currently pays $82 million per seat.

Boeing aims to conduct the first test flight of its Starliner capsule in April, with astronauts on board possibly in August.

Bridenstine said he’s confident that astronauts will soar on a Dragon or Starliner — or both — by year’s end. But he stressed there’s no rush.

“We are not in a space race,” he said. “That race is over. We went to the moon and we won. It’s done. Now we’re in a position where we can take our time and make sure we get it right.”

SpaceX already has made 16 trips to the space station using cargo Dragons. The white crew Dragon is slightly bigger — 27 feet (8 meters) tip to tip — and considerably fancier and safer.

It features four seats, three windows, touch-screen computer displays and life-support equipment, as well as eight abort engines to pull the capsule to safety in the event of a launch emergency. Solar cells are mounted on the spacecraft for electrical power, as opposed to the protruding solar wings on cargo Dragons.

“It’s an incredibly sleek looking vehicle from the inside and it’s very easy to operate,” Hurley told reporters just hours before liftoff. He marvels at how the Dragon has just 30 buttons and touch screens, compared with the space shuttle cockpit’s 2,000 switches and circuit breakers.

For the test, the Ripley dummy was strapped into the far left seat, wearing the company’s snappy white spacesuit. The other seats were empty, save for a small plush toy resembling Earth that was free to float upon reaching zero-gravity. “Super high tech zero-g indicator added just before launch!” Musk tweeted. True to his word, the toy rose weightlessly above the seat once the capsule was in orbit.

As many as seven astronauts could squeeze in, although four will be the norm once flights get going, allowing for a little cargo room. About 450 pounds (200 kilograms) of supplies are going up on this flight.

The capsule is designed to dock and undock automatically with the space station. Cargo Dragon must be maneuvered with the station’s robot arm.

Like Ripley, the capsule is rigged with sensors. Engineers will be carefully watching sound, vibration and other stresses on the spacecraft, while monitoring the life-support, communication and propulsion systems. Some of the equipment needs more work — possibly even redesign — before serving human passengers.

“We’re going to learn a ton from this mission,” said NASA’s commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders.

Flight operations team members — some of them new to this — also need the six-day trial run, according to Kennedy Space Center’s director, Robert Cabana.

The objective is to make the next demo flight, with Hurley and Behnken, as safe as possible. The more immediate goal is to avoid harming the space station and its three occupants: an American, Canadian and Russian.

Despite SpaceX’s success at recovering and reusing its rockets, NASA is insisting on brand new boosters from SpaceX for the crew capsule flights. The first-stage booster used Saturday landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic, following liftoff. SpaceX plans to recycle the newly flying capsule for a high-altitude abort test this spring, along with a booster launched and retrieved a week ago.

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>SpaceX has become the first company to design, build, launch, and now dock a commercial spaceship made for flying people to the International Space Station.

Elon Musk's rocket company launched the seven-seat vehicle, called Crew Dragon, on Saturday at 2:49 a.m. ET. By early morning on Sunday, the 14,000-lb space capsule had caught up to the football-field-size laboratory that orbits Earth.

After a series of safety checks, SpaceX began nudging Crew Dragon toward the front end of the space station. At 5:51 a.m. ET, it made soft contact with a docking node, engaged six arms, and latched on. About 11 minutes later, the spaceship tightly screwed itself to Node 2 of the space station.

Nobody was on board to open Crew Dragon's hatch — only 400 lbs of cargo and a female crash-test dummy named "Ripley". However, NASA says SpaceX's demonstration or Demo-1 mission was "a critical first step" in restoring US-crewed access to space, since the goal is to prove the new spaceship is safe to fly its astronauts.

"A new generation of space flight starts now with the arrival of @SpaceX's Crew Dragon to the @Space_Station," Jim Bridenstine, NASA's administrator, tweeted on Sunday. "Congratulations to all for this historic achievement getting us closer to flying American Astronauts on American rockets."

Read more: NASA picked these 9 astronauts to fly SpaceX and Boeing's spaceships for the first time

The astronauts of Expedition 58 at the International Space Station speak during a welcome ceremony for SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, the first commercial spaceship to enter orbit, on March 3, 2019. NASA TV

NASA's space shuttle Endeavour was the last American human-rated ship to touch the space station, and that was in July 2011.

On Sunday, Crew Dragon docked with Node 2: the spot where NASA's 100-ton space shuttle orbiters often used to dock.

The symbolism was not lost on the space station's current three-person Expedition 58 crew, who opened the hatch, floated inside Crew Dragon at 8:07 a.m. ET, and held a greeting ceremony for Crew Dragon live on NASA TV.

"It was a beautiful thing to see," said David Saint-Jacques, a Canadian astronaut and station crew member. "Today we welcome a brand-new spacecraft to the space station, and a great new addition to the quiver of tools we have for humans to further space exploration. This is a good day, a first day of a new era for the next generation of space explorers."

'Welcome to the new era in spaceflight'

Astronaut Anne McClain plays with a plush Earth toy inside SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. The vehicle docked to the International Space Station on March 3, 2019, marking the first arrival of a human-rated commercial spaceship at the football-field-size laboratory. NASA TV

During the brief greeting ceremony, Expedition 58 commander and Russian crew member Oleg Kononenko spoke first.

"On behalf of my crew, I would like to congratulate the United States of America and the NASA team for this very significant event: the launch and docking of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship," Kononenko said. "It's a historic step … on our way of human beings [moving] beyond low-Earth orbit to the moon, and Mars, and the future."

Saint-Jacques spoke next, marveling at the thousands of people, years of work, and close collaboration between SpaceX and NASA that it took to pull off a docking of a commercial spaceship.

Last was Anne McClain, a NASA astronaut and another space station crew member. She had the most to say about Crew Dragon's successful arrival at her orbiting home in the sky.

"Our sincere congrats to all earthlings who have enabled the opening of this next chapter in space exploration," McClain said. "And congratulations to all nations, private space firms, and individuals who wake up every day driven by the magic of exploration. This day belongs to all of us."

Read more: Humanity's coolest achievements in spaceflight since Apollo 8, from walking on the moon to touching interstellar space

She remarked on the international makeup of the space station and the effort that went into its creation 250 miles above Earth, and how Crew Dragon is now part of it.

"Spaceflight gives us a chance to reflect on the context of our existence. We are reminded that we are human before any of our differences, before all of the lines are drawn that divide us," she said. "We are reminded that we're at our best when we are a part of something bigger than ourselves.

She continued: "These events remind us that we are more alike than different, that we can be united by a cause that is not based on fear, threat, or a common enemy, but rather on a bold endeavor — an insatiable curiosity to go beyond what is known and to do what has never been done. We humans were built for exploration, and we were built to do it together."

McClain and her colleagues then floated into the Crew Dragon to show it off to the world.

Inside the spaceship, McClain grabbed onto a plush Earth toy that SpaceX had strapped into a seat before launch. Musk has called the toy a "super high tech zero-gravity indicator," and it's been floating around the cabin on the end of a string since Crew Dragon entered orbit.

"On behalf of Ripley, little Earth, myself, and our crew, welcome to the Crew Dragon," she said. "These amazing feats show us not how easy our mission is, but how capable we are of doing hard things. Welcome to the new era in spaceflight."

She then spun the Earth toy with a gentle nudge:

Crew Dragon's mission is not over with docking and hatch opening. It has to pull off a series of other feats before NASA will allow astronauts on board, including a textbook landing.

Launch and docking are what Musk described on Saturday as "some of the riskiest items" in the Demo-1 mission. But undocking, deorbit, and splashdown in water are up next.

The space station crew is supposed to close the Crew Dragon's hatch sometime on Thursday, and the ship is scheduled to depart at 2 a.m. ET.

Read more: Here's what SpaceX's sleep new Crew Dragon spaceship must do to prove it's safe to fly people

Crew Dragon is then scheduled to land in the Atlantic Ocean near Kennedy Space Center on Friday around 7:30 a.m. ET. (You can watch live coverage of each major milestone here.)

If SpaceX can pull off Demo-1 with flying colors, the mission could be a major turning point for the company.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk (left), NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Doug Hurley, Bob Behnken, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, and NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins are seen inside the crew access arm with the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft visible behind them during a tour of Launch Complex 39A before the early Saturday morning launch of the Demo-1 mission, Friday, March 1, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Joel Kowsky/NASA

"The whole goal of SpaceX was crewed spaceflight, and improving space exploration technologies — that's actually the full name of the company: Space Exploration Technologies," Musk said during a press briefing on Saturday after launch.

He added: "It's been 17 years — we still haven't launched anyone yet — but hopefully we will later this year. That would definitely be the culmination of a long dream for me and a lot of other people at SpaceX."

Data gathered by Demo-1 will be used to tweak and finalize a new Crew Dragon that will actually fly astronauts on an experimental mission called Demo-2.

SpaceX and NASA may rocket that first crewed mission toward the space station as soon as July, and veteran astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be on board.

"It's an incredibly sleek-looking vehicle," Hurley said during an impromptu press briefing on Friday at Kennedy Space Center, adding that it's "a lot more intuitive" than the space shuttle. He noted that instead of about 2,000 knobs, buttons, dials, switches, and other controls like a shuttle orbiter, Crew Dragon has about 30.

"We've been following the process for a few years at this point," Behnken said after launch on Sunday. "So seeing a success like this definitely gives us a lot of confidence in the future."</s>America's newest capsule for astronauts rocketed Saturday toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX.

The only passenger was a life-size test dummy, named Ripley after the lead character in the "Alien" movies. SpaceX needs to nail the debut of its crew Dragon capsule before putting people on board later this year.

This latest, flashiest Dragon is on a fast track to reach the space station Sunday morning, just 27 hours after liftoff.

It will spend five days docked to the orbiting outpost, before making a retro-style splashdown in the Atlantic next Friday — all vital training for the next space demo, possibly this summer, when two astronauts strap in.

SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk said the launch was "super stressful" to watch, but he's hopeful the capsule will be ready to carry people later this year.

"To be frank, I'm a little emotionally exhausted," Musk told reporters barely an hour after liftoff. "We have to dock to the station. We have to come back, but so far it's worked ... we've passed the riskiest items."

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called it "a big night for the United States of America."

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Demo 1 crew capsule lifts off from pad 39A, Saturday, March 2, 2019, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

"We're on the precipice of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil again for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011," said Bridenstine, who got a special tour of the launch pad on the eve of launch, by Musk.

An estimated 5,000 NASA and contractor employees, tourists and journalists gathered in the wee hours at Kennedy Space Center with the SpaceX launch team, as the Falcon 9 rocket blasted off before dawn from the same spot where Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles once soared. Across the country at SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, company employees went wild, cheering every step of the way until the capsule successfully reached orbit.

Looking on from Kennedy's Launch Control were the two NASA astronauts who will strap in as early as July for the second space demo, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. Shortly after liftoff, Musk asked them, "How do you feel about flying on it?"

It's been eight years since Hurley and three other astronauts flew the last space shuttle mission, and human launches from Florida ceased.

NASA turned to private companies, SpaceX and Boeing, and has provided them $8 billion to build and operate crew capsules to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. Now Russian rockets are the only way to get astronauts to the 250-mile-high outpost. Soyuz tickets have skyrocketed over the years; NASA currently pays $82 million per seat.

Boeing aims to conduct the first test flight of its Starliner capsule in April, with astronauts on board possibly in August.

Bridenstine said he's confident that astronauts will soar on a Dragon or Starliner — or both — by year's end. But he stressed there's no rush.

"We are not in a space race," he said. "That race is over. We went to the moon and we won. It's done. Now we're in a position where we can take our time and make sure we get it right."

SpaceX already has made 16 trips to the space station using cargo Dragons. The white crew Dragon is slightly bigger — 27 feet (8 meters) tip to tip — and considerably fancier and safer. Musk said the redesigned capsule has "hardly a part in common" with its predecessor.

It features four seats, three windows, touch-screen computer displays and life-support equipment, as well as eight abort engines to pull the capsule to safety in the event of a launch emergency. Solar cells are mounted on the spacecraft for electrical power, as opposed to the protruding solar wings on cargo Dragons.

"It's an incredibly sleek looking vehicle from the inside and it's very easy to operate," Hurley told reporters just hours before liftoff. He marvels at how the Dragon has just 30 buttons and touch screens, compared with the space shuttle cockpit's 2,000 switches and circuit breakers.

For the test , the Ripley dummy was strapped into the far left seat, wearing the company's snappy white spacesuit. The other seats were empty, save for a small plush toy resembling Earth that was free to float upon reaching zero-gravity. "Super high tech zero-g indicator added just before launch!" Musk tweeted. True to his word, the toy rose weightlessly above the seat once the capsule was in orbit.

As many as seven astronauts could squeeze in, although four will be the norm once flights get going, allowing for a little cargo room. About 450 pounds (200 kilograms) of supplies are going up on this flight.

The capsule is designed to dock and undock automatically with the space station. Cargo Dragon must be maneuvered with the station's robot arm.

Like Ripley, the capsule is rigged with sensors. Engineers will be carefully watching sound, vibration and other stresses on the spacecraft, while monitoring the life-support, communication and propulsion systems. Some of the equipment needs more work — possibly even redesign — before serving human passengers.

"We're going to learn a ton from this mission," said NASA's commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders.

Flight operations team members — some of them new to this — also need the six-day trial run, according to Kennedy Space Center's director, Robert Cabana.

The objective is to make the next demo flight, with Hurley and Behnken, as safe as possible. The more immediate goal is to avoid harming the space station and its three occupants: an American, Canadian and Russian.

"Seeing a success like this definitely gives us a lot of confidence in the future," Behnken said.

At Saturday's post-launch news conference, Musk said he'd be happy to fly on the revamped Dragon. "You guys think it's a good vehicle, right?" he asked Behnken and Hurley, seated alongside him. Musk jokingly said they better wait a week, until the Dragon returns, before responding.

Despite SpaceX's success at recovering and reusing its rockets, NASA is insisting on brand new boosters from SpaceX for the crew capsule flights. The first-stage booster used Saturday landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic, following liftoff. SpaceX plans to recycle the newly flying capsule for a high-altitude abort test this spring, along with a booster launched and retrieved a week ago.

Musk anticipates eventually selling Dragon rides to private citizens, much as the Russians have done, first to the space station and then perhaps beyond. "That would be pretty cool," he said.</s>While SpaceX has sent plenty of cargo Dragons to the space station, crew Dragon is a different beast. It docked autonomously under the station astronauts' watchful eyes, instead of relying on the station's robot arm for berthing. Behnken said that's the way it should work when he and Hurley are on board; they may push a button or two and will have the ability to intervene, if necessary.</s>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — America’s newest capsule for astronauts rocketed Saturday toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX.

The only passenger was a life-size test dummy, named Ripley after the lead character in the “Alien” movies. SpaceX needs to nail the debut of its crew Dragon capsule before putting people on board later this year.

This latest, flashiest Dragon is on a fast track to reach the space station Sunday morning, just 27 hours after liftoff.

It will spend five days docked to the orbiting outpost, before making a retro-style splashdown in the Atlantic next Friday — all vital training for the next space demo, possibly this summer, when two astronauts strap in.

“This is critically important … We’re on the precipice of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil again for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. He got a special tour of the pad on the eve of launch, by SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk.

An estimated 5,000 NASA and contractor employees, tourists and journalists gathered in the wee hours at Kennedy Space Center with the SpaceX launch team, as the Falcon 9 rocket blasted off before dawn from the same spot where Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles once soared. Across the country at SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, company employees went wild, cheering every step of the way until the capsule successfully reached orbit.

Looking on from Kennedy’s Launch Control were the two NASA astronauts who will strap in as early as July for the second space demo, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. It’s been eight years since Hurley and three other astronauts flew the last space shuttle mission, and human launches from Florida ceased.

NASA turned to private companies, SpaceX and Boeing, and has provided them $8 billion to build and operate crew capsules to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. Now Russian rockets are the only way to get astronauts to the 250-mile-high outpost. Soyuz tickets have skyrocketed over the years; NASA currently pays $82 million per seat.

Boeing aims to conduct the first test flight of its Starliner capsule in April, with astronauts on board possibly in August.

Bridenstine said he’s confident that astronauts will soar on a Dragon or Starliner — or both — by year’s end. But he stressed there’s no rush.

“We are not in a space race,” he said. “That race is over. We went to the moon and we won. It’s done. Now we’re in a position where we can take our time and make sure we get it right.”

SpaceX already has made 16 trips to the space station using cargo Dragons. The white crew Dragon is slightly bigger — 27 feet (8 meters) tip to tip — and considerably fancier and safer.

It features four seats, three windows, touch-screen computer displays and life-support equipment, as well as eight abort engines to pull the capsule to safety in the event of a launch emergency. Solar cells are mounted on the spacecraft for electrical power, as opposed to the protruding solar wings on cargo Dragons.

“It’s an incredibly sleek looking vehicle from the inside and it’s very easy to operate,” Hurley told reporters just hours before liftoff. He marvels at how the Dragon has just 30 buttons and touch screens, compared with the space shuttle cockpit’s 2,000 switches and circuit breakers.

For the test, the Ripley dummy was strapped into the far left seat, wearing the company’s snappy white spacesuit. The other seats were empty, save for a small plush toy resembling Earth that was free to float upon reaching zero-gravity. “Super high tech zero-g indicator added just before launch!” Musk tweeted. True to his word, the toy rose weightlessly above the seat once the capsule was in orbit.

As many as seven astronauts could squeeze in, although four will be the norm once flights get going, allowing for a little cargo room. About 450 pounds (200 kilograms) of supplies are going up on this flight.

The capsule is designed to dock and undock automatically with the space station. Cargo Dragon must be maneuvered with the station’s robot arm.

Like Ripley, the capsule is rigged with sensors. Engineers will be carefully watching sound, vibration and other stresses on the spacecraft, while monitoring the life-support, communication and propulsion systems. Some of the equipment needs more work — possibly even redesign — before serving human passengers.

“We’re going to learn a ton from this mission,” said NASA’s commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders.

Flight operations team members — some of them new to this — also need the six-day trial run, according to Kennedy Space Center’s director, Robert Cabana.

The objective is to make the next demo flight, with Hurley and Behnken, as safe as possible. The more immediate goal is to avoid harming the space station and its three occupants: an American, Canadian and Russian.

Despite SpaceX’s success at recovering and reusing its rockets, NASA is insisting on brand new boosters from SpaceX for the crew capsule flights. The first-stage booster used Saturday landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic, following liftoff. SpaceX plans to recycle the newly flying capsule for a high-altitude abort test this spring, along with a booster launched and retrieved a week ago.

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.</s>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX's new crew capsule has arrived at the International Space Station, acing its second milestone in just over a day.

No one was aboard the Dragon capsule launched Saturday on its first test flight, only an instrumented dummy. But the three station astronauts had front-row seats as the Dragon neatly docked Sunday morning and became the first American-made, designed-for-crew spacecraft to pull up in eight years.

If the six-day demo goes well, SpaceX could launch two astronauts this summer under NASA's commercial crew program. Both astronauts were at SpaceX Mission Control in California, observing all the action.

While SpaceX has sent plenty of cargo Dragons to the space station, crew Dragon is a different beast. It docked autonomously, instead of relying on the station's robot arm for help.</s>SpaceX's new crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, acing its second milestone in just over a day.

The Dragon capsule, whose only passenger was a life-size test dummy, dubbed Ripley after the lead character in the 'Alien' movies, was launched on Saturday from Cape Canaveral on its first test flight.

Three station astronauts had front-row seats as the sleek, white vessel neatly docked and became the first American-made, designed-for-crew spacecraft to pull up in eight years.

TV cameras on Dragon as well as the space station provided stunning views of one another throughout the rendezvous.

If the six-day demo goes well, SpaceX could launch two astronauts this summer under NASA's commercial crew program.

Both astronauts - Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken - were at SpaceX Mission Control in Southern California, observing all the action. They rushed there from Florida after watching the Dragon rocket into orbit early Saturday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

'Just super excited to see it,' Behnken said minutes after the link-up. 'Just one more milestone that gets us ready for our flight coming up here.'

While SpaceX has sent plenty of cargo Dragons to the space station, crew Dragon is a different beast.

It docked autonomously under the station astronauts' watchful eyes, instead of relying on the station's robot arm for berthing.

Behnken said that's the way it should work when he and Hurley are on board; they may push a button or two and will have the ability to intervene, if necessary.

As part of Sunday's shakedown, the station astronauts sent commands for the Dragon to retreat and then move forward again, before the capsule closed in for good.

SpaceX employees at company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, cheered and applauded as crew Dragon pulled up and docked at the orbiting lab, nearly 260 miles (400 kilometers) above the Pacific, north of New Zealand.

They burst into applause again, several minutes later, when the Dragon's latches were tightly secured - just 27 hours after liftoff.

The station astronauts offered congratulations to SpaceX, as they got ready to open the hatches and collect the supplies stashed aboard Dragon.

The capsule's lone passenger, Ripley - a mannequin wearing a white SpaceX spacesuit - also was going to be welcomed aboard.

Yesterday, Elon Musk described the successful as 'super stressful' after revealing he gave the capsule just a 10 percent chance of reaching orbit.

SpaceX needs to nail the debut of the capsule, which took off from Cape Canaveral in the early hours, before putting people on board later this year.

Speaking at a press conference after the launch, Musk said: 'I almost thought we would fail. I thought maybe we'd have a 10 percent chance of reaching orbit starting out. I'm a little emotionally exhausted because that was super stressful, but it worked.'

Dragon will remain at the space station until Friday, when it undocks and aims for a splashdown in the Atlantic, a couple hundred miles off the Florida coast.

Like Ripley, the capsule is rigged with sensors to measure noise, vibration and stresses, and to monitor the life-support, propulsion and other critical systems throughout the flight.

SpaceX aims to launch Behnken and Hurley as early as July for the second space demo.

Next up, though, should be Boeing, NASA's other commercial crew provider. Boeing is looking to launch its Starliner capsule without a crew as early as April and with a crew possibly in August.

NASA is paying the two private companies $8 billion to build and operate the capsules for ferrying astronauts to and from the space station.

Astronauts have been stuck riding Russian rockets ever since NASA's space shuttle program ended in 2011. Russian Soyuz seats go for up to $82 million apiece.

An estimated 5,000 NASA and contractor employees, tourists and journalists gathered in the wee hours at Kennedy Space Center with the SpaceX launch team, as the Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from the same spot where Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles once soared.

'We are not in a space race,' he said. 'That race is over. We went to the moon and we won. It's done. Now we're in a position where we can take our time and make sure we get it right.'

The white crew Dragon is slightly bigger than cargo versions - 27 feet (8 meters) tip to tip - and considerably fancier and safer.

It features four seats, three windows, touch-screen computer displays and life-support equipment, as well as eight abort engines to pull the capsule to safety in the event of a launch emergency.

Solar cells are mounted on the spacecraft for electrical power, as opposed to the protruding solar wings on cargo Dragons.

'It's an incredibly sleek looking vehicle from the inside and it's very easy to operate,' Hurley told reporters just hours before liftoff.

He said he marvels at how the Dragon has just 30 buttons and touch screens, compared with the space shuttle cockpit's 2,000 switches and circuit breakers.

For the test, the Ripley dummy was strapped into the far left seat, wearing the company's snappy white spacesuit.

The other seats were empty, save for a small plush toy resembling Earth that was free to float once reaching zero-gravity. 'Super high tech zero-g indicator added just before launch!' Musk tweeted.</s>NASA is paying the two private companies $8 billion to build and operate the capsules

SpaceX’s sleek, new crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, acing its second milestone in just over a day.

No one was aboard the Dragon capsule launched Saturday on its first test flight, only an instrumented dummy. But that quickly changed once the hatch swung open and the space station astronauts floated inside.

This beefed-up, redesigned Dragon is the first American-made, designed-for-crew spacecraft to pull up to the station in eight years. The next one coming up will have its own two-man crew.

“A new generation of space flight starts now with the arrival of @SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to the @Space_Station,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted.

The space station’s three astronauts had front-row seats as the white 27-foot-long (8-meter-long) capsule neatly docked. Two hours later, the station crew entered to take air samples, wear oxygen masks and hoods until getting the all-clear.

If the six-day demo goes well, SpaceX could launch two astronauts this summer under NASA’s commercial crew program. Both astronauts — Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken — were at SpaceX Mission Control in Southern California, watching all the action. They rushed there from Florida after the Dragon rocketed into orbit early Saturday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

“Just super excited to see it,” Behnken said minutes after the link-up. “Just one more milestone that gets us ready for our flight coming up here.”

Dragon will remain at the space station until Friday, when it undocks and aims for a splashdown in the Atlantic, a couple hundred miles off the Florida coast.

While the private SpaceX has sent plenty of its Dragon capsules filled with cargo to the space station for NASA, crew Dragon is a different beast. It docked on its own, instead of relying on the station’s robot arm for berthing. The capsule’s nose cap was wide open like a dragon’s mouth, to expose the docking mechanism.

Behnken said that’s the way it should work when he and Hurley are on board; they may push a button or two and will have the ability to intervene, if necessary.

READ MORE: Trump signs order to create US Space Command

As part of Sunday’s shakedown, the station astronauts sent commands for the Dragon to retreat and then move forward again, before the capsule closed in for good.

SpaceX employees at company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, cheered and applauded as crew Dragon pulled up and docked at the orbiting lab, nearly 260 miles (400 kilometres) above the Pacific, north of New Zealand.

The capsule’s lone passenger for launch — a mannequin wearing a white SpaceX spacesuit — remained strapped into its seat as the station’s U.S., Canadian and Russian crew removed supplies and photographed the spotless white interior. The test dummy — or Smarty as SpaceX likes to call it — is named Ripley after the lead character in the science-fiction “Alien” films.

Like Ripley, the capsule is rigged with sensors to measure noise, vibration and stresses, and to monitor the life-support, propulsion and other critical systems throughout the flight. .

SpaceX aims to launch Behnken and Hurley as early as July.

Next up should be Boeing, NASA’s other commercial crew provider. Boeing is looking to launch its Starliner capsule without a crew as early as April and with a crew possibly in August.

NASA is paying the two private companies $8 billion to build and operate the capsules for ferrying astronauts to and from the space station. Astronauts have been stuck riding Russian rockets ever since NASA’s space shuttle program ended in 2011. Russian Soyuz seats go for up to $82 million apiece.

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.</s>Falcon 9 safely lands on the offshore platform called Of Course I Still Love You, a couple of miles frrom the East coast of Central Florida.

Listening to the final count down, everything seems in order. 



Preparations are rolling to launch SpaceX's Crew Dragon from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Launch is set for 2:49 a.m.

March 1 | 10:30 a.m.: Social media influencers are getting an up-close-and-personal tour of Kennedy Space Center leading up to the Crew Dragon launch. They're posting photos and videos on social media with the hashtag #NASASocial.

March 1 | 7:30 a.m.: NASA said the weather forecast for the launch remains at 80 percent favorable for "go."

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, also tweeted a photo offering an inside look at "Ripley," the dummy who will ride into space on the Crew Dragon capsule on Saturday.

ORIGINAL STORY: The stage is set for a historic launch from the Space Coast.

In less than 24 hours, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule is set for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center. The next time it does so, it’s scheduled to be carrying astronauts.

Saturday at 2:49 a.m. will be the first time a commercially built spaceship designed to carry astronauts will launch to the International Space Station.
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"Some time this summer they'll put people in it for the first time and we will get Americans back into space," said Dale Ketcham with Space Florida.

Locals on Merritt Island agreed that a rocket carrying people would bring back an excitement they haven't felt on the Space Coast since NASA launched its last shuttle Atlantis on July 8, 2011.

Since NASA shut down its shuttle program in 2011, it's had to buy seats on Russian capsules. That costs roughly $80 million per trip.

READ: 9 things to know about SpaceX’s Crew Dragon launch

If successful, the Crew Dragon Capsule would lower costs and make it possible for astronauts to launch again from American soil.

Stay tuned to Eyewitness News for lives updates from the launchpad.

You can watch from home right here on WFTV.com, live on Channel 9, on the WFTV app and on WFTV’s Facebook page.

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SpaceX launches the first Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of the Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission, with the first stage of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle making a successful landing on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You.