SpaceX rocket docks at International Space Station

The journey from Florida took 19 hours

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft is seen in this false colour infrared exposure as it is launched on Nasa's SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station with Nasa astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard, at Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US. EPA

US President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he arrives to watch the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, US. Reuters

SpaceX chief executive and owner Elon Musk celebrates after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft on Nasa's SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Reuters

President Donald Trump arrives to speak after viewing the SpaceX flight to the International Space Station, at Kennedy Space Centre, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. AP Photo

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft lifts off. AFP

Former Nasa astronaut Garrett Reisman holds the sign before the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Centre, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Reuters

Nasa astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken head for the International Space Station. AFP

President Donald Trump acknowledges SpaceX founder Elon Musk, right, after the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the manned Crew Dragon spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. AFP

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's second stage separates from the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. Nasa

Nasa astronauts Bob Behnken, rear, and Doug Hurley are strapped in the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. Nasa

People view the launch from a beach in Florida. Reuters

A split image of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and astronauts Bob Behnken, rear, and Doug Hurley are strapped into it. Nasa

Spectators at Shiloh's Steak & Seafood restaurant in Titusville, Fla. watching the launch of the SpaceX rocket. AP

The launch makes history and was the first time astronauts have taken off from US soil in a decade. Reuters

The crew access arm is retracted about 30 minutes before the launch time. Nasa

Nasa astronauts Douglas Hurley, left, and Robert Behnken walk out of the Neil A Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building. AP

Norm Knight, deputy director of Flight Operations at Nasa's Johnson Space Center, watches the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft on the Demo-2 mission with Nasa astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken onboard, in firing room four of the Launch Control Centre at Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US. EPA

In this image released by Nasa, astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are displayed on a monitor as they sit inside the Dragon crew capsule during the successful launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at the Launch Control Centre at Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. AP

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule has docked at the International Space Station, becoming the first commercial enterprise to do so.

Docking took place 19 hours after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Saturday afternoon, carrying the Crew Dragon into orbit.

Soft capture, the moment when a spacecraft makes first contact and latches with a target vehicle, took place at 6.26pm UAE time.

SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission is the first flight with astronauts aboard the capsule built by entrepreneur Elon Musk’s commercial space company and the first US astronaut launch to orbit from home soil in nearly a decade.

Astronauts Robert Behnken, 49, and Douglas Hurley, 53, former military test pilots, joined US astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner aboard the ISS.

“It’s been a real honour to be just a small part of this nine-year endeavour since the last time a United States spaceship has docked with the International Space Station,” Colonel Hurley said on confirmation of the docking.

It was the first time a privately built and owned spacecraft carried astronauts to the orbiting lab in its two-decade life. Nasa considers this the opening volley in a business revolution encircling Earth and eventually stretching to the Moon and Mars.

SpaceX conducted a successful test flight of Crew Dragon to the International Space Station in March 2019 with a sensor-laden mannequin on board named Ripley, after the character played by Sigourney Weaver in the Alien film franchise.

The two US astronauts were originally scheduled to stay on the ISS for up to two weeks, but are now expected to stay for at least a month, as Nasa is short-staffed.