Elon Musk’s SpaceX has successfully  launched a rocket out of the Earth’s atmosphere, heralding the rebirth of American manned spaceflight later this year.

The unmanned crew capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket was launched from Florida bound for the International Space Station at 7.49am GMT on Saturday.

Nasa and SpaceX successfully launched the new astronaut capsule on a week-long trip to the International Space Station and back – a key step towards resuming manned space flights from US soil after an eight-year break.

This time around, the only occupant on board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule is a dummy named Ripley, named after the character in Alien played by Sigourney Weaver.

But if the test goes…