"Today's successful launch marks a new chapter in American excellence, getting us closer to once again flying American Astronauts on American rockets from American soil," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote Saturday morning.
"I proudly congratulate the SpaceX and NASA teams for this major milestone in our nation's space history," he added. "This first launch of a space system designed for humans built and operated by a commercial company through a public-private partnership is a revolutionary step on our path to get humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond."
The Falcon 9 rocket booster landed on a droneship in the Atlantic at about 3 a.m. Saturday, SpaceX said, making it the 35th successful landing of one of the company's rocket boosters.
The Crew Dragon is carrying about 400 pounds of supplies and equipment for the three astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Also aboard is Ripley, named after a certain fighter of an Alien. Ripley is no mere dummy, but "an anthropomorphic test device outfitted with sensors to gather important data about what an astronaut flying aboard the spacecraft would experience throughout the mission," NASA says.
Anne McClain, the American aboard the space station, says she's looking forward to saying hello.
If the rest of the SpaceX mission goes as planned, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley could be flying aboard the Crew Dragon as early as July, NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reported.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk noted the accomplishment in a post-launch news conference with NASA officials Saturday morning.
"I really believe in the future of space and I think it's important that we be ... out there among the stars. And I think that's one of the things that makes people excited about the future. That we want the things that are in science fiction novels and movies not to be science fiction forever, we want them to be real one day."
NASA is also working with Boeing on a test flight of its Starliner capsule, also without a crew, scheduled for this year.
Watch the video of the launch here.
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