Mr. Musk.

Fellow science fiction nerds, it's a new day. The space shuttle might be a relic, but that doesn't mean we're stuck here permanently. (Well, provided you've got some cash lying around.) After last weekend's none-too-impressive failure to launch, Elon Musk's ride to the stars finally made it into orbit this morning. The commercial spaceflight company's cargo ship, the Dragon, is now headed for the International Space Station. Your move, Facebook mafia.

Via the AP:

"Every launch into space is a thrilling event, but this one is especially exciting," said John Holdren, President Barack Obama's chief science adviser. "This expanded role for the private sector will free up more of NASA's resources to do what NASA does best — tackle the most demanding technological challenges in space, including those of human space flight beyond low Earth orbit."

Here's a video, taken this morning:

http://youtu.be/vgHz15bRMQQ

If his Twitter is any indication, Elon Musk is on cloud nine right now:

Falcon flew perfectly!! Dragon in orbit, comm locked and solar arrays active!! Feels like a giant weight just came off my back :)

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 22, 2012

Also, we would be lying if we said we didn't wish we could tweet this:

Navigation bay pointing to deep space and star map being generated by star tracker one. Yes! #DragonLaunch

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 22, 2012

Well, it's not going to make anyone immortal, but we hope this is a sufficiently impressive and science fictional achievement to impress Mr. Musk's fellow Paypal mafioso, Peter Thiel.