SpaceX blasts off to space station in historic first

• Opening a new era in private space flight, the U.S. company SpaceX on Tuesday became the first commercial outfit to launch its own craft toward the International Space Station.
• The test flight of the Dragon space capsule, which launched atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket at 3.44 a.m. (0744 GMT), aims to show that industry can restore U.S. access to the ISS after NASA retired its space shuttle fleet last year. 
• The mission is set to include a fly-by and berthing with the station in three days, before the capsule returns to Earth at the end of this May.