SpaceX launches Dragon test flight to Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The United States may have just taken a big step toward human spaceflight self-sufficiency with a first-of-its kind launch by SpaceX.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule embarked on its first test mission to the International Space Station early this morning (March 2), launching atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) here on the Space Coast.

Nobody is aboard Crew Dragon on this six-day flight, known as Demo-1, save a sensor-laden dummy astronaut named Ripley in an apparent nod to the sci-fi film "Alien." But if all goes according to plan with Demo-1 and a subsequent emergency-escape test, SpaceX will use the capsule to ferry two astronauts to the orbiting lab as early as this July.

That milestone will be huge: Astronauts haven't launched to orbit from American soil since NASA grounded its space shuttle fleet in July 2011. Ever since then, the nation has been dependent on Russian Soyuz rockets and spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the space station — at a cost, most recently, of about $80 million per seat.