Cape Canaveral , Florida ( CNN ) -- Friday 's test launch of the Falcon 9 rocket was `` essentially a bullseye , '' SpaceX officials said after the rocket successfully pushed past the earth 's atmosphere and deposited a mock-up of its Dragon space capsule in orbit . The successful launch is the latest step toward commercial space ventures that could eventually ferry astronauts and cargo to the international space station . SpaceX CEO Elon Musk , co-founder of PayPal , sent out the technical details of the successful launch , which he said performed its mission to deposit the Dragon mock-up into a 155-mile ( 250-km ) orbit to near perfection . `` Nominal shutdown and orbit was almost exactly 250 km , '' Musk said in a written statement . `` Telemetry showed essentially a bullseye : 126 ; 0.2 % on perigee and 126 ; 1 % on apogee . '' The capsule is expected to orbit for about a year and eventually burn up in the atmosphere . NASA administrator Charles Bolden congratulated the SpaceX team . `` Space X 's accomplishment is an important milestone in the commercial transportation effort and puts the company a step closer to providing cargo services to the International Space Station , '' he said . Former Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart was high on the launch 's possibilities . `` As a former Apollo astronaut , I think it 's safe to say that SpaceX and the other commercial developers embody the 21st century version of the Apollo frontier spirit . It 's enormously gratifying to see them succeed today , '' he said . NASA hopes companies such as SpaceX can take over transportation to the international space station . `` It 's time for NASA to hand that over to commercial industry who can then optimize the technology and make it more reliable , make it much lower cost and make it much more routine , '' said Musk in an interview with CNN last month . Musk says he believes the United States is at the beginning of a profound , fundamental renaissance in space exploration , perhaps greater than when President Kennedy declared the United States was going to the moon during the infancy of the space program . `` If the country executes and the administration and Congress execute in that direction , the impact of these changes will be on par , perhaps even greater , than ... the task that Kennedy put us on to , '' he said . This push toward the privatization of space is part of President Obama 's blueprint to allow NASA to do bigger and better things with its budget , such as a mission to Mars . NASA has been flying shuttles in low Earth orbit and going to and from the space station for 30 years . The administration would like to see whether private companies can do it cheaper and more efficiently , as the shuttle program is about to fly into retirement . NASA selected SpaceX and another company , Orbital Sciences , to each develop an orbital vehicle because the United States will not have its own way to get to the space station . The United States will be renting space from the Russians aboard their Soyuz spacecraft . `` They 're standing on NASA 's shoulders , so they 're designing rockets based on the experience we 've had for 50 years or more , going into space , '' said George Musser , editor of the Scientific American . `` And any enterprise that learns from past experience will hopefully do better , '' he said . But the competition is rabid . SpaceX is the first company to reach the launchpad . So far , its spent almost $ 400 million to get there . `` They probably hate each other 's guts , but the competition is really good for space and for all of us , '' said Musser . `` Ultimately , what do we want from this ? We want to get into space cheaply , so our kids and grandkids someday can go into space and explore the planets , '' he said . But SpaceX acknowledges there will be failures , as there have been since the the beginning of aviation . `` This is an all-new rocket . There 's a lot that can go wrong , and during the test phase -- that 's why you have a test phase , because things may go wrong , '' he said . Ken Bowersox is a vice president for SpaceX . In his previous life , he flew five space shuttle missions as a commander and pilot . He also lived on the space station for more than five months as its commander . `` Either way , we 're going to learn something , '' he said . `` If we have a problem , we can move forward accepting a higher level of risk . That 's how we can be more cost-effective . If all goes as planned after a series of test flights , Musk says SpaceX will be ready to begin flying cargo to the space station next year . If NASA awards SpaceX a contract , Musk says they can begin ferrying astronauts to the space station within three years . He says his company is profitable , but his motivations go beyond dollars . `` We want to see a future where we are exploring the stars , where we 're going to other planets , where we 're doing the great things that we read about in science fiction and in the movies , '' Musk said . CNN 's Rich Phillips contributed to this report .
NASA launches Space Exploration Technologies 9 rocket next year . With shuttle program about to end , NASA looking to private companies to fill gap . Florida will rely on Russians to get to and from the international space station for now . Founder hopes SpaceX will be ready to begin flying cargo to space station next year .