A rocket with a capsule for a human crew, built by the private company SpaceX, has been launched on a test flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Falcon 9 rocket and SpaceX Crew Dragon space capsule launched in the middle of the night from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. An unmanned SpaceX capsule is scheduled to arrive at the ISS on Sunday.
SpaceX tweets followed each stage of the launch with the closing message "Crew Dragon is on its way to the International Space Station!"
The docking to the ISS is scheduled to begin Sunday morning and will be broadcast live.
It is the first commercially built American rocket and spacecraft launched from American soil.
The launch was carried out in cooperation with NASA, which cooperates with several private American space companies on the development of manned spacecraft.
The program aims to end the US space program's dependence on Russia for flights to the ISS.
The test flight will provide data on the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket and SpaceX Crew Dragon, ground systems and other operations, NASA said.
SpaceX is scheduled to transport American astronauts to the ISS in July, Hina reports.
A SpaceX capsule transports a test dummy in a Tesla space suit to the ISS.
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