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SpaceX's proposal to accelerate evolution of the Dragon spacecraft to a crew transportation system.

This is a 2:46 video of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on-orbit starting at the T00:53:50 minute mark.

Other than watching the video of the launch there's nothing like seeing great still images of an event. These images provided by SpaceX and Chris Thompson show the spectacular liftoff, on-orbit images and splashdown images.

After a nearly flawless launch of Falcon 9 and recovery of the Dragon spacecraft, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was almost speechless during the first part of the press conference saying "he was in semi shock" at how well the launch went. Musk said he was extremely thankful to NASA for helping get SpaceX to this point and that SpaceX had built upon decades of NASA work. However SpaceX today accomplished something no private company has ever done before and only three nations had, he launched and recovered a spacecraft successfully. Musk said if astronauts had been aboard they would have had a gentle ride to space and returned safely experiencing only about 4G's comparable to a roller coaster ride.

Heading into the first demo flight of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program SpaceX and NASA were both quick to remind people that this was a test program doing something SpaceX had never done before. From the look of today's launch it seems they needed have worried so much. The first flight of Falcon 9 carrying the Dragon spacecraft to orbit appears to have been perfect.

Earlier in the day it seemed like SpaceX would have to wait another day to launch. First there were boats in the range and the safety officers would not let them launch until they had cleared, then came the launch abort with 2 seconds to go before launch. But SpaceX tried again, and at 2:45 eastern the Falcon 9 soared to lofty heights on its maiden voyage.

SpaceX has confirmed that the maiden launch of their Falcon 9 rocket is a go for sometime later this year and perhaps as early as November 29. The Falcon 9 launch was anticipated this year however what was not anticipated is that on its maiden voyage it would carry the Dragon spacecraft.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Astrium announce a contract for a SpaceX Falcon 1e to launch an Earth observation satellite designed by Astrium or its recently acquired subsidiary Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL).