America’s newest crew capsule rockets toward space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. — America’s newest capsule for astronauts rocketed Saturday toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX.

The only passenger was a lifesize test dummy named Ripley after the lead character in the “Alien” movies. SpaceX needs to nail the debut of its crew Dragon capsule before putting people on board this year.

What it means

This latest, flashiest Dragon is on a fast track to reach the space station this morning, just 27 hours after liftoff.

It will spend five days docked to the orbiting outpost, before making a retro-style splashdown in the Atlantic on Friday — all vital training for the next space demo, possibly this summer, when two astronauts strap in.

SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk said the launch was “super stressful” to watch, but he’s hopeful the capsule will be ready to carry people later this year.

“To be frank, I’m a little emotionally exhausted,” Musk said about an hour after liftoff. “We have to dock to the station. We have to come back, but so far it’s worked ... we’ve passed the riskiest items.”

Why it matters

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called it “a big night for the United States of America.”

“We’re on the precipice of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil again for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011,” said Bridenstine.

NASA turned to private companies, SpaceX and Boeing, and has provided them $8 billion to build and operate crew capsules to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. Now Russian rockets are the only way to get astronauts to the 250-mile-high outpost. Soyuz tickets have skyrocketed over the years; NASA currently pays $82 million per seat.

What’s next

Boeing aims to conduct the first test flight of its Starliner capsule in April, with astronauts on board possibly in August.

‘We’re going to learn a ton from this mission.’ Kathy Lueders NASA’S COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM MANAGER

TERRY RENNA / ASSOCIATED PRESS A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a demo crew Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Pad 39A Saturday at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a test flight to the International Space Station.

JOEL KOWSKY / NASA NASA astronaut Eric Boe (left) and Norm Knight, deputy director of flight operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, watch Saturday’s launch.