Great news! Seems as if NASA and the U.S. space program are back in business. It appears that in the near future we won’t have to rely on Russia to provide transportation for our astronauts, as we have for almost eight years. SpaceX seems to have perfected a method of preserving the launch vehicle for future space shots, just in a very different way than was used for the Space Shuttle. See video (below) for live coverage.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at 2:49 AM from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on March 2, 2019. Photo by Joe Marino-Bill Cantrell/UPI | License Photo
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon began its inaugural test flight early Saturday morning. The module was carried safely into space by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
“Liftoff!” SpaceX tweeted at 2:49 a.m. ET.
“The next big leap in a new chapter of U.S. human spaceflight systems has left the pad,” NASA wrote on Twitter.
Shortly after liftoff, the rocket’s main engine turned off and the first and second stages separated. The second stage’s thrusters carried Crew Dragon into a proper orbital trajectory.
“Dragon confirmed in good orbit,” SpaceX confirmed at 3:00 a.m.
A few minutes after first and second stage separation, the main stage successfully executed a controlled landing on SpaceX’s droneship in the Atlantic — the company’s 35th successful landing of a rocket booster.
“Spacecraft separation!” NASA confirmed in a blog update less than 20 minutes after liftoff. “SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, designed to transport astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil, is flying on its own in orbit following an on-time launch.”
Over the next 24 hours, the spacecraft will conduct a series of orbital phasing maneuvers. On Sunday morning, Crew Dragon will rendezvous with the International Space Station and execute a docking maneuver. The craft will remain docked for five days before de-orbiting and splashing into the Atlantic at the end of next week.
The uncrewed flight, or Demo-1 mission, will provide SpaceX the chance to prove its spacecraft is safe, reliable and ready to carry live astronauts.
The launch marks the first under NASA’s commercial crew program. NASA selected SpaceX and Boeing to design and build crew-carrying spacecraft to shepherd astronauts to and from the space station — replacements for the Space Shuttle, which NASA retired in 2011.
Stella's Place 
This is an incredible accomplishment. Two short years after the near total shutdown of our space program, and here we are, back in space in a new and excitingly different way.
We Americans are pretty good at this innovation stuff, huh?
Look out Mars, we are coming for you next!
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All of this was built on technology that was largely the product of US tax dollars BUT it took private profit-motivated industry to develop a cost effective and reusable system.
NASA had a decade, in the 60s, of bottomless funding so the systems developed were throwaway. SpaceX developed a reusable system that can land almost on a dime, reminiscent of those early 50s sci fi rocket systems. Then again SpaceX isn’t hampered like NASA is with a wall of social engineering hiring requirements (remember Obama’s interference in NASA hirings?) – they also have the goal of turning a profit.
China has the brains, the money and our technology so we may have to go thru Chinese customs when we get to Mars and I’ll bet there’ll be a picture of Obama and certain selected Rat Senators too.
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