SpaceX, NASA successfully launch first American spacecraft capable of carrying humans into space since 2011

Crew Dragon launch.
(Image credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

A new era of human spaceflight may soon be upon us.

SpaceX and NASA teamed up to successfully launch the Falcon 9 rocket, which safely delivered the spacecraft Crew Dragon into orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida on Saturday morning.

While there were no people aboard during the launch — just a mannequin named after Sigourney Weaver's Alien character, Ripley — the Dragon is the first American spacecraft since 2011 and the retirement of the space shuttle to be capable of carrying humans into space. Ars Technica described the mission as a "critical" one for NASA.

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The Dragon's next major test is to successfully dock with the International Space Station within the next 24 hours. But so far, so good.

"Tonight was a big night for the United States of America, a great night for NASA," Jim Bridenstine, a NASA administrator, said following the launch. Watch the launch below. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.