NASA and SpaceX celebrated the successful launch Saturday of a new astronaut capsule on a week-long round trip to the International Space Station — a key step towards resuming manned space flights from US soil after an eight-year break.

This time around, the only occupant on board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule was a dummy named Ripley — but NASA plans to put two astronauts aboard later this year.

The new capsule blasted off aboard the Falcon 9 rocket built by SpaceX — run by billionaire Elon Musk — at 2:49 am (0749 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, lighting up the coastline.

Eleven minutes later, the confirmation came from SpaceX mission control: “Dragon separation confirmed.”

That triggered cheers at the firm’s headquarters and at the Kennedy Space Center.

The capsule is scheduled to reach the ISS by Sunday at around 1100 GMT, with a return to Earth next Friday.

It will splash down in the Atlantic Ocean, from where it will be brought back to Cape Canaveral.

In another success, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth, landing on a platform 500 kilometers (310 miles) off the Florida coast in the Atlantic. It marks the 35th such recovery by SpaceX.

NASA had announced weather conditions were good head of the launch, with an 80-percent chance of favorable weather.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk, who founded the company in 2002, was at the space center for the occasion.

“This is a critically important event in American history,” the head of the US space agency, Jim Bridenstine, told reporters on Friday, with the rocket and capsule visible behind him on the legendary launch pad where the Apollo missions to the Moon began.

“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.”

The excitement was palpable at Cape Canaveral, from the space-fan volunteers guiding media on site, to the tourists who came to watch.

“It’s been a long eight years,” the Kennedy Space Center’s director Bob Cabana, a former astronaut himself, said as SpaceX employees milled around the rocket.

After the shuttle program was shuttered in July 2011 following a 30-year run, NASA began outsourcing the logistics of its space missions.

It pays Russia to get its people up to the ISS orbiting research facility at a cost of $82 million per head for a round trip.

In 2014, the US space agency awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing for them to take over this task.

But the program has suffered delays as safety requirements are much more stringent for manned flights than for unmanned missions to deploy satellites.

“We’re going to have more access to space at a better cost than at any point in human history,” said Bridenstine, adding he was “100 percent confident” that a manned flight would happen by year’s end.

– Boeing next –

 Boeing also received a contract in 2014 to develop a space vessel, the Starliner. It will not be tested until April, in a mission similar to SpaceX’s.

NASA did not want to rely on just one single vehicle, in case of accidents.

“We’re going to be a customer,” Bridenstine told reporters.

Planning has been delayed by around three years, with the first manned SpaceX flight still penciled in for July, though officials frequently refer to the end of 2019 as a more realistic deadline.

“We’re going to take it day by day,” Bridenstine said of the timeline.

“Right now, the date is July and that’s what we’re planning for, but if we change that date we’ll make sure people know when it’s the right time.”

Doug Hurley, one of the two astronauts chosen for the future first manned flight, said: “We will be ready when SpaceX and NASA are ready for us to fly.”

– ‘Going to learn a ton’ –

 Saturday’s flight aims to test the vessel’s reliability and safety in real-life conditions.

The dummy riding in the capsule — which SpaceX’s Hans Koenigsmann prefers to call a “smartie” — has been nicknamed Ripley in honor of the character played by Sigourney Weaver in the “Alien” movies.

It is fitted with monitors to test the forces that future astronauts will be subjected to on takeoff and when they return to the Earth’s atmosphere and then splash down in the Atlantic, slowed down by giant parachutes.

“We’re going to learn a ton from this mission,” said Kathy Lueders, the manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program.

For SpaceX, sending an astronaut into orbit would be a culmination of years of hard work and high-risk investment.

“Every mission is important, but this is even more important, said Koenigsmann, the firm’s vice-president for build and flight reliability.

“Early on, our goal was human spaceflight,” he said. “Human spaceflight is a core value of business of SpaceX.”

In less than a decade, SpaceX has become a key partner for NASA, in addition to dominating the market for private satellite launches.

Its Falcon 9 rockets have resupplied the space station 15 times in seven years, even though one of them blew up in 2015.</s>A SpaceX rocket with an unmanned crew capsule blasted off on Saturday for the International Space Station, in a key milestone for Elon Musk’s space company and NASA’s long-delayed goal to resume human spaceflight from U.S. soil later this year.</s>With only a dummy named Ripley on board, the launch was a dress rehearsal for the first manned test flight—scheduled for later this year with two NASA astronauts.

The rocket blasted off without incident at 2:49 am (0749 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, lighting up Florida's coastline.

Eleven minutes later, the confirmation came from SpaceX mission control: "Dragon separation confirmed."

That triggered cheers at the firm's headquarters and at the Kennedy Space Center.

The capsule is scheduled to reach the ISS by Sunday at around 1100 GMT, with a return to Earth next Friday.

It will splash down in the Atlantic Ocean, from where it will be brought back to Cape Canaveral.

In another success, the rocket's first stage returned to Earth, landing on a platform 500 kilometers off the Florida coast in the Atlantic. It marks the 35th such recovery by SpaceX.

After its shuttle program was shuttered in July 2011 after a 30-year run, NASA's manned flights came to an end.

Since then, it has been buying seats in Russian Soyuz rockets—the only ones capable of transporting humans there.

Keeping its options open, the US space agency in 2014 awarded contracts to both SpaceX and Boeing for them to take over this task.

Boeing's Starliner capsule will be tested in April, at the earliest.</s>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A SpaceX rocket with a newly designed unmanned crew capsule blasted off on Saturday for the International Space Station, in a key milestone for Elon Musk’s space company and NASA’s long-delayed goal to resume human spaceflight from U.S. soil later this year.

SpaceX’s 16-foot-tall (4.9 meter) Crew Dragon capsule, atop a Falcon 9 rocket, lifted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at TK 2:49 a.m. (0749 GMT), carrying a test dummy nicknamed Ripley.

The space station’s three-member crew was expected to greet the capsule, carrying 400 pounds of supplies and test equipment, early Sunday morning, NASA said. During its five-day stay, U.S. astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques will run tests and inspect Crew Dragon’s cabin.</s>A SpaceX rocket with a newly designed unmanned crew capsule blasted off on Saturday for the International Space Station, in a key milestone for Elon Musk’s space company and NASA’s long-delayed goal to resume human spaceflight from U.S. soil later this year.</s>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — 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.

“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. “Congratulations to all for this historic achievement getting us closer to flying American Astronauts on American rockets.”

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.

The space station’s three astronauts had front-row seats as the white 27-foot-long (8-meter-long) capsule neatly docked, a little early no less. TV cameras on Dragon as well as the station provided stunning views of one another throughout the rendezvous.

Just two hours after the Dragon’s grand entrance, the station crew entered to take air samples. The astronauts wore 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, 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. 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.

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. They burst into applause again, several minutes later, when the Dragon’s latches were tightly secured.

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, given all the instrumentation — is named Ripley after the lead character in the science-fiction “Alien” films.

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.

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.</s>Cape Canaveral, Fla. – A sleek American-built capsule with just a test dummy aboard docked smoothly with the International Space Station on Sunday in a big step toward putting the U.S. back in the business of launching astronauts.

The white Dragon capsule, developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company under contract to NASA, closed in on the orbiting station nearly 260 miles above the Pacific Ocean and, flying autonomously, linked up on its own, without the help of the robotic arm normally used to guide spacecraft into position.

Dragon is the first American-made spacecraft capable of carrying a crew to pull up to the space station in eight years. If this six-day test flight goes well, SpaceX could launch two NASA astronauts to the orbiting outpost this summer.

“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. “Congratulations to all for this historic achievement getting us closer to flying American Astronauts on American rockets.”

Ever since NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011, the U.S. has been hitching rides to and from the space station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft. In the meantime, NASA is paying two companies – SpaceX and Boeing – to build and operate its next generation of rocket ships.

The 27-foot-long capsule rocketed into orbit early Saturday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with an instrumented mannequin in a white SpaceX spacesuit strapped into one of its four seats. The test dummy was nicknamed Ripley after the main character in the “Alien” movies.

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

As the capsule closed in on the space station, its nose cap was wide open like a dragon’s mouth to expose the docking mechanism. In a docking with a crew aboard, the capsule would likewise operate autonomously, though the astronauts may push a button or two and would be able to intervene if necessary.

The three U.S., Canadian and Russian crew members aboard the space station watched the rendezvous via TV cameras. Within hours, the capsule’s hatch swung open and the three astronauts floated inside to remove supplies and take air samples, wearing oxygen masks and hoods until they got the all-clear.

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques pronounced the docking flawless and called it “a beautiful thing to see.”

“Welcome to the new era in spaceflight,” he said.

Dragon will remain at the space station until Friday, when it will undock for an old-school, “Right Stuff”-style splashdown in the Atlantic, a few hundred miles off Florida.

As part of Sunday’s shakedown, the space station astronauts sent commands for Dragon to retreat and then move forward again, before the capsule closed in for good. SpaceX employees at company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, cheered the docking, then burst into applause again when the Dragon’s latches were secured.

The two astronauts who are set to fly aboard Dragon as early as July – Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken – witnessed the Florida liftoff, then rushed to Southern California to watch Sunday’s action.

“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.”

Next up, though, is Boeing, which is looking to launch its Starliner capsule without a crew as early as April and with a crew possibly in August.</s>SpaceX's new Dragon capsule successfully docked on the International Space Station on Sunday, NASA and SpaceX confirmed during a live broadcast of the mission.

"We can confirm hard capture is complete," NASA said.

The announcement was met with applause at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The docking began at 1051 GMT, more than 248 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth's surface, north of New Zealand -- and 27 hours after the capsule's launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Although the contact appeared slow, the ISS and the capsule were moving at a speed of over 27,000 kilometers per hour in orbit around the Earth.

On board the ISS, the crew -- American Anne McClain, Russian Oleg Kononenko, and Canadian David Saint-Jacques -- were scheduled to open the airlock at 1330 GMT.

The mission is a test launch with only a dummy on board the capsule ahead of a manned flight scheduled for later this year.

The Dragon capsule will remain on the ISS until Friday before detaching to splash down in the Atlantic. It will be slowed by four parachutes, in what is the one of the mission's riskiest stages.

The launch is a key step towards resuming manned space flights from US soil after an eight-year break.

After the shuttle program was shut down in July 2011 following a 30-year run, NASA began outsourcing the logistics of its space missions.

It pays Russia to get its people up to the ISS orbiting research facility at a cost of $82 million per head for a round trip.

In 2014, the US space agency awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing for them to take over this task.</s>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A sleek new American-built capsule with just a test dummy aboard docked smoothly with the International Space Station on Sunday in a big step toward putting the U.S. back in the business of launching astronauts.

The white, bullet-shaped Dragon capsule, developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company under contract to NASA, closed in on the orbiting station nearly 260 miles above the Pacific Ocean and, flying autonomously, linked up on its own, without the help of the robotic arm normally used to guide spacecraft into position.

Dragon is the first American-made spacecraft capable of carrying a crew to pull up to the space station in eight years.

If this six-day test flight goes well, a Dragon capsule could take two NASA astronauts to the orbiting outpost this summer.

“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. “Congratulations to all for this historic achievement getting us closer to flying American Astronauts on American rockets.”

Ever since NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011, the U.S. has been hitching rides to and from the space station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft. In the meantime, NASA is paying two companies — SpaceX and Boeing — to build and operate its next generation of rocket ships.

SpaceX’s 27-foot-long (8-meter-long) capsule rocketed into orbit early Saturday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with an instrumented mannequin strapped into one of its four seats in a dashing, white-and-black, form-fitting SpaceX spacesuit. The test dummy was nicknamed Ripley after the main character in the “Alien” movies.

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

As the capsule closed in on the space station, its nose cap was wide open like a dragon’s mouth to expose the docking mechanism. In a docking with a crew aboard, the capsule would likewise operate autonomously, though the astronauts may push a button or two and would be able to intervene if necessary.

The three U.S., Canadian and Russian crew members aboard the space station watched the rendezvous via TV cameras. Within hours, the capsule’s hatch swung open and the three astronauts floated inside to remove supplies and take air samples, wearing oxygen masks and hoods until they got the all-clear.

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques pronounced the docking flawless and called it “a beautiful thing to see.”

“Welcome to the new era in spaceflight,” he said.

Dragon will remain at the space station until Friday, when it will undock for an old-school, “Right Stuff”-style splashdown in the Atlantic, a few hundred miles off Florida.

As part of Sunday’s shakedown, the space station astronauts sent commands for Dragon to retreat and then move forward again, before the capsule closed in for good. SpaceX employees at company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, cheered the docking, then burst into applause again when the Dragon’s latches were secured.

The two astronauts who are set to fly aboard Dragon as early as July — Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken — witnessed the Florida liftoff, then rushed to Southern California to watch Sunday’s action.

“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.”

Next up, though, is Boeing, which is looking to launch its Starliner capsule without a crew as early as April and with a crew possibly in August.

SpaceX already has made 16 trips to the space station using cargo Dragons. The version designed for crews is slightly bigger and safer.

It can carry as many as seven people and has three windows, emergency-abort engines that can pull the capsule to safety, and streamlined controls, with just 30 buttons and touch screens, compared with the space shuttle cockpit’s 2,000 switches and circuit breakers.</s>WASHINGTON: SpaceX's new Dragon capsule successfully docked on the International Space Station on Sunday (Mar 3), NASA and SpaceX confirmed during a live broadcast of the mission.

"We can confirm hard capture is complete," NASA said.

The announcement was met with applause at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The docking began at 1051 GMT (6.51pm Singapore time), more than 400km above the Earth's surface, north of New Zealand - and 27 hours after the capsule's launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Although the contact appeared slow, the ISS and the capsule were moving at a speed of over 27,000kph in orbit around the Earth.

On board the ISS, the crew - American Anne McClain, Russian Oleg Kononenko, and Canadian David Saint-Jacques - were scheduled to open the airlock at 1330 GMT.

The mission is a test launch with only a dummy on board the capsule ahead of a manned flight scheduled for later this year.

The Dragon capsule will remain on the ISS until Friday before detaching to splash down in the Atlantic. It will be slowed by four parachutes, in what is the one of the mission's riskiest stages.

The launch is a key step towards resuming manned space flights from US soil after an eight-year break.

After the shuttle program was shut down in July 2011 following a 30-year run, NASA began outsourcing the logistics of its space missions.

It pays Russia to get its people up to the ISS orbiting research facility at a cost of US$82 million per head for a round trip.

In 2014, the US space agency awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing for them to take over this task.
SpaceX's unmanned spacecraft Dragon 2 successfully docks with the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time.