SpaceX Succesfully Blasts Off!; Is ISS Bound. Yeah, Commercial Space Pursuits!

After a last second cancellation on Saturday, SpaceX has finally launched its Dragon capsule outside the reach of Mother Earth’s gravi-guts. Huzzah!

The Verge:

At 3:44AM ET this morning,  SpaceX  launched a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in the first mission to the International Space Station by aprivately-funded company. The Dragon capsule is currently in orbit with solar arrays deployed and, if all goes to plan following the launch, will dock with the ISS early Friday morning. The test flight will demonstrate SpaceX’s capability to both abort and successfully perform a rendezvous with the station. Once successful, the company will have the green light to push forward with a  $1.6 billion contract  with NASA under which it will carry out 12 delivery missions to the ISS. You can follow the mission’s progress on Twitter through the  SpaceX  and  Kennedy Space Center  accounts.

Awesome.