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United States, a private company, not a government, was the first to launch an astronaut to launch a spacecraft. It is led by Ellen Musk, the No. 1 electric car company, who built Tesla, and is planning to go on a trip to Mars in four years to get money and collect people. 

Reporter Kim Ji-sung.

<Reporter>

[3, 2, 1, 0.]

Civil astronaut SpaceX launched a manned spacecraft, the Crew Dragon.

It was at the same launch pad that Apollo 11, the first lunar lander, was launched half a century ago.

The Crew Dragon climbed into the orbit 12 minutes after launch, and was also successful in recovering the detached first-stage propellant.

Using the reverse propulsion technology, the propellant landed on a barge floating on the sea.

[The Falcon 9 (1st propellant) has landed.]

This ugly body will be used again on the next launch, and SpaceX has developed such a recycled rocket system to reduce its launch cost by a tenth.

Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, which is also owned by electric vehicle company Tesla, says the next goal is to travel to the Moon and Mars.

[Elon Musk / SpaceX Chief Executive Officer: Reignite the dreams of the universe. Let's light the future fire.]

So far, the three countries that have launched manned spacecraft are the United States, Russia, and China.

This is the first time a private company has launched.

The mission of this flight is to safely pick up passengers and make sure they can fly through space.

The Crew Dragon will dock at the International Space Station around 11:00 p.m. today (31st) and stay at the station for up to four months.

(Video editing: Hojin Kim, CG: Hyunjung Jung)