For the first time a commercial spacecraft was launched into orbit and returned safely to Earth….

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, launched its Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a Dragon capsule, at 10:43 a.m. Eastern time from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket appeared to operate flawlessly as it headed skyward.

Nine minutes later, the Dragon capsule reached orbit. It circled the Earth twice at an altitude of 186 miles before re-entering the atmosphere. Slowed by three parachutes, it softly splashed in the Pacific Ocean about 500 miles west of northern Mexico. Ms. Garver said she had been told it landed within a mile of the recovery ship.

– Kenneth Chang, N.Y. Times.

So it begins. Sweet. Since NASA’s clearly not getting me to the moon anytime soon, maybe we can benefit from a little competition, the free market and all that.

Also, I like that the company is called SpaceX. It’s the right mix of sounding like something from a dystopian-future movie and sounding like a extraterrestrial exploration enterprise owned by Xzibit. Ideally by the time they’re ready for human spaceflight, the rides will be thoroughly pimped.