SpaceX's Falcon 9 lifts off on May 31, 2020.
Two American astronauts reached the International Space Station on Sunday after a historic liftoff and journey that marked a triumph for NASA and private enterprise SpaceX.
Pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken pulled up to the station in their SpaceX Dragon capsule and docked automatically with no assistance needed.
They are the first American astronauts launched to the station from U.S. soil since 2011.
It also marked the first time a privately built and owned spacecraft carried astronauts to the space station in its more than 20 years of existence.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said the space agency wasn't going to do things like the past anymore and will partner with the commercial industry.
The docking occurred barely 19 hours after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket built by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk blasted off Saturday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The event drew a Washington delegation led by President Donald Trump as well as some 10 million hits online, according to NASA.
<Photo: Yonhap News>
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