It's official: private spacecraft are now delivering supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).
At 8.35 pm local time on Sunday night, a Dragon space capsule made by the firm SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with paid-for cargo in its hold. It was the start of the first private mission to deliver critical supplies to the ISS.
SpaceX's trial run back in May was successful, making Dragon the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the ISS. But the capsule was carrying only non-critical supplies on that mission. If all goes well and the Dragon docks with the ISS on Wednesday, it will become the first US spacecraft to resupply the ISS since the shuttle was retired in 2011.
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