SpaceX launched its Dragon capsule into space for the first time this morning at 10:43 am from Kennedy Space Center.

The capsule circled the earth twice and came back down in the Pacific several hundred miles west of Southern California.

The flight marks the first time a private firm's spacecraft re-entered Earth's atmosphere from orbit.

NASA has selected SpaceX and another company, Orbital Sciences, to each develop an orbital vehicle that can resupply the International Space Station after the Space Shuttle retires next year. SpaceX intends to build capsules that can deliver people, not just cargo,

For a behind the scenes coverage of SpaceX, check out our feature on the company.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io