3, 2, 1, 0. we have liftoff of the falcon 9. >> stage one. >> one small step for man, a giant leap for the privatization of outer space. the american company, space x, launching the first privately funded spacecraft into orbit today. the unmanned dragon capsule took off from the cape -- from -- not the cape canaveral, from cape canaveral this morning and returned three hours later, splashing into the pacific ocean. other companies, including richard branson's virgin galact galactic, as you surely know, carried out suborbittal flights before but none reached such as recent hours. the flight for nasa and could lead to a space station supply run next year. nasa has been relying on russia to ferry astronauts to and from the space station at the cost of $26 million a pop. the space agency hoping to buy american and give that work to a u.s. company.