The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the SpaceX Dragon capsule has launched successfully at 3:44 AM ET.
Dragon has separated and the solar arrays have deployed, SpaceX has announced.  With this achievement, SpaceX is the first commercial company in history to successfully launch a spacecraft towards the International Space Station.

“The significance of this day cannot be overstated. While there is a lot of work ahead to successfully complete this mission, we are off to a good start,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.