Gwynne Shotwell president of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. takes her turn at the podium from Charlie Bolden.

Gwynne Shotwell, president of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, takes her turn at the podium from NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, at right. Bolden and Shotwell are addressing news and social media representatives at the Press Site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida following the successful launch of NASA's first Commercial Resupply Services, or CRS-1, mission to the International Space Station.

SpaceX built both the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule that launched at 8:35 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. SpaceX CRS-1 is an important step toward making America’s microgravity research program self-sufficient by providing a way to deliver and return significant amounts of cargo, including science experiments, to and from the orbiting laboratory. NASA has contracted for 12 commercial resupply flights from SpaceX and eight from the Orbital Sciences Corp. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/living/launch/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett