SpaceX has taken one small step toward sending astronauts into space with the successful first launch of the Crew Dragon capsule early Saturday morning. 

Affixed to the top of a Falcon 9 booster, the rounded cone capsule of the Crew Dragon blasted off in a blaze of fire and smoke from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:49 a.m. ET Saturday. The unmanned launch is the first stage of the Demo-1 mission, designed to test the capabilities of the capsule over the next week, as it heads toward the International Space Station. 

Though no human crew was on board, locked within the capsule was a flight dummy nicknamed Ripley and an anthropomorphic plushie of planet Earth designed to indicate when the capsule had reached zero gravity. The capsule was also carrying around 400 pounds of crew supplies and equipment to simulate future missions.

Earth floats gently in zero gravity pic.twitter.com/XUH3KeDPVe

Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, expressed his appreciation for both the SpaceX team and NASA at a post-launch press conference but noted the mental toll the experience had on him. "To be frank, I'm a little emotionally exhausted," he sighed. "That was super stressful, but it worked... So far." 

The historic launch, which was celebrated with cheers and applause at Kennedy Space Center, comes after multiple delays pushed the maiden flight back from an expected launch in 2018. The site of the landmark launch was Pad 39A, which has previously seen NASA's Saturn rockets carry astronauts to the moon aboard Apollo spacecraft and the famous launches of NASA's space shuttles.

LIFTOFF! The next big leap in a new chapter of U.S. human spaceflight systems has left the pad. @SpaceX’s #CrewDragon demo flight will be the 1st commercially-built & operated American spacecraft designed for humans to dock at the @Space_Station. Watch: https://t.co/Fm5NQSfAXJ pic.twitter.com/YoiOf67kQL

Though the launch was a success, SpaceX still has a giant hurdle to leap before the demonstration mission is complete. The capsule is currently headed to the International Space Station and should dock with the space laboratory on Sunday at approximately 6 a.m. ET. Should you want to catch that moment live, SpaceX are providing a webcast of the docking from 3.30 a.m. ET (5.30 a.m. PT).

The Falcon 9 blasts off, carrying Crew Dragon for the first time.

It'll remain at the ISS until March 8, then begin arguably the most important part of its demonstration: successfully returning to Earth. The capsule is fitted with enhanced parachutes and is set to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean.

Speaking of the Atlantic, the reusable Falcon 9 booster that launched Crew Dragon successfully landed on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship drifting along in said ocean, approximately 10 minutes after liftoff.

As part of its Commercial Crew program, NASA handed contracts to both SpaceX and Boeing in 2014 to develop rockets that could send astronauts back to space. NASA hasn't launched humans to space since 2011, when the Space Shuttle program ended. In the meantime, the agency has paid for spots on the Russian built Soyuz spacecraft at a cost of over $80 million per set. That makes Saturday's success particularly important, helping chart a course for NASA to bring launches back to American soil and keep costs down. 

"We want to make sure we keep our partnership with Russia, which has been very strong for a long period of time," explained Bridenstine before the flight. "But we also want to make sure we have our own capability to get back and forth to the International Space Station."

The Crew Dragon separates from the Falcon 9 in Earth's shadow.

The Crew Dragon capsule is an enhanced version of SpaceX's Dragon capsule, which has ferried cargo from Earth to the ISS on 16 previous occasions. This iteration can carry seven human passengers, which it'll eventually carry to the ISS in low Earth orbit. Provided this demo mission proceeds as planned, the Crew Dragon will have to demonstrate its safety in one more "in-flight abort test," scheduled for later this year.

If it passes that test, SpaceX and NASA will finally be ready to make another giant leap, sending astronauts to the ISS from the United States for the first time since 2011.

Originally posted March 2, 12.01 a.m. PTUpdated March 2, 5.32 p.m. PT: Adds tweets, images from launch

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