Space Exploration Technologies puts a bird into orbit with a full sized capsule capable of carrying six astronauts. It was flawless:
SpaceX now has an operational system capable of putting payload and, in the next year or two, people, into low earth orbit all the way to the Space Station that costs much less than the shuttle or Russian boosters.
Last year I asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk what kind of savings we could soon see. Musk said, "A seat on the Dragon Spacecraft launched by the Falcon 9 rocket would cost less than $20 million, and it is 100% manufactured and launched in the United States. This means over a 1000 new high quality jobs while saving taxpayers $2 billion a year." Asked about more ambitious journeys, Musk added, "After we master delivering payload and passengers to the ISS, we certainly have other destinations in mind ..."