Some 19 hours after it left Cape Canaveral in Florida, a SpaceX capsule carrying two NASA astronauts has successfully docked at the International Space Station on Sunday morning.
The mission marks the first time a private company has put humans into space.
The capsule arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule, as astronauts Robert L. Behnken and Douglas G. Hurley took over manual control for the docking.
“It’s been a real honor to be just a small part of this nine-year endeavor since the last time a United States spaceship has docked with the International Space Station,” Hurley said to Mission Control.
If the astronauts safely return to earth, it will open up a world of possibilities for commerce and potentially even space tourism.
NASA and SpaceX, the company owned by eccentric entrepreneur Elon Musk, joined for a successful launch Saturday of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.
The spacecraft lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 3:22 PM ET.
This demo mission marked the first U.S. manned spaceflight since the 2011 end of NASA’s Space Shuttle program. The spacecraft is designed to eventually carry private passengers into orbit, the ISS or beyond).
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