SpaceX Crew Dragon with two NASA astronauts docks with International Space Station within 19 hours

File Photo (Twitter/@SpaceX)

Cape Canaveral: Just under 19 hours after launching from Florida, SpaceX`s Crew Dragon capsule carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley docked with the International Space Station on Sunday (May 31, 2020), marking the first US space capsule to do so with a crew since 2011.

Docking confirmed! @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug officially docked to the @Space_Station at 10:16am ET: pic.twitter.com/hCM4UvbwjR

— NASA (@NASA) May 31, 2020

The launch on Sunday (May 31, 12:52 AM) by SpaceX, the private rocket company of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, represented another milestone for the reusable rockets it pioneered to make spaceflight less costly and more frequent. 

It also marked the first time that commercially developed space vehicles - owned and operated by a private entity rather than NASA - have carried Americans into orbit.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 PM EDT (12:52 AM IST) for the journey to the International Space Station.

After a successful launch at 3:22 p.m. ET, @SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft with @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug onboard is on its way to the @Space_Station.

Docking will occur May 31 at 10:29 a.m. ET: https://t.co/A9sbAYbCl3 pic.twitter.com/IyWkZN1HSH — NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) May 30, 2020

Just before liftoff, Hurley said, "SpaceX, we`re go for launch. Let`s light this candle," paraphrasing the famous comment uttered on the launch pad in 1961 by Alan Shepard, the first American flown into space.