SpaceX Aces First Launch of Crew Dragon, Built to Carry Humans, and Falcon 9 Touchdown

'SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, its first spacecraft designed to carry humans, took flight for the first time Saturday,' reports CNN. Slashdot reader Applehu Akbar calls it 'a perfect launch,' noting the test flight is hauling a sensor-loaded dummy named 'Ripley' -- plus a 400-pound cargo of essentials for the International Space Station. Crew Dragon will dock on Sunday, CNN reports, then return to earth five days later. 'SpaceX's capsule is now en route to the International Space Station, which flies about 254 miles above Earth at tremendous speeds: about 10 times faster than a bullet.'

The successful launch puts SpaceX one step closer to a historic landmark: Crew Dragon could be the first commercially built spacecraft to carry NASA astronauts to orbit. And Crew Dragon -- along with a capsule called Starliner built by Boeing -- could end the United States' decade-long reliance on Russia for human spaceflight...

This marks the first and only demo mission that Crew Dragon will fly without humans on board. If all goes well, the capsule design will undergo a few more reviews and safety checks, and it could be ready to fly two NASA astronauts to the space station in July, based on the space agency's current timeline.

Space.com reports that the reusable rocket also landed safely back on earth about 10 minutes after the liftoff, 'acing a touchdown on the SpaceX drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed off the Florida coast.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.