WASHINGTON SpaceX on Friday became the first commercial outfit to dock its own cargo capsule at the International Space Station, marking what experts have hailed as a new era for private spaceflight.

The California-based SpaceX, owned by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, has now reached the climax of its test mission to become the first privately owned craft to reach the space station, restoring U.S. access to the space outpost.

With no humans on board, the capsule is delivering about a half ton of supplies and science experiments for the ISS, and aims to return a slightly larger load of gear to Earth on May 31.

It looks like we got us a Dragon by the tail, said U.S. astronaut Don Pettit, who was operating the Canadian-built robotic arm from the space station as it reached out and hooked on to the unmanned SpaceX capsule at 9:56 am (1356 GMT).

The two spacecraft were traveling about 250 miles (402 kilometers) above northwest Australia at the time of the grab, NASA said.

AP Photo

This image provided by NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft after Dragon was grappled by the Canadarm2 robotic arm and connected to the International Space Station, Friday, May 25, 2012.

Dragon captured by the International Space Station! Just awesome, wrote SpaceX chief executive Musk on Twitter.

Next, a formal berthing brought the capsule closer to latch on at the stations Harmony module at 12:02 pm (1602 GMT), NASA said.

The Dragon is toting 521 kilograms (1,148 pounds) of goodies for the space lab, including food, supplies, computers, utilities and science experiments. It plans to return a 660-kilogram (1,455-pound) load to Earth.

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SpaceX Dragon ship reaches International Space Station in historic flight