May 22, 2012

The first launch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket on December 8, 2010 (Photo NASA/Tony Gray and Kevin O'Connell)

The Dragon spacecraft just took off successfully from Cape Canaveral using a Falcon 9 rocket and after about 10 minutes it reached orbit. It’s the first spacecraft built by a private company headed toward the International Space Station. The cargo it’s carrying includes supplies but also the ashes of astronaut Gordon Cooper, who died in 2004, and actor James Doohan – “Scotty” in Star Trek – who died in 2005.