Cape Canaveral, Florida - SpaceX and NASA just sent a very special mission to the International Space Station! In a first for Elon Musk's company, the mission was piloted by a woman.

SpaceX's launch of the Crew-2 mission Friday morning marked several milestones.

It was the first to have two international astronauts in the SpaceX Dragon capsule, and also the first time that two of the capsules will be attached to the International Space Station simultaneously.

But most notably, a woman was piloting the mission!

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Megan McArthur flew in the very seat her husband and fellow astronaut Bob Behnken used as he piloted a SpaceX mission last year.

Rebecca Hall, a mechanical engineering student at University of Central Florida, was invited to watch Friday's launch with NASA employees and was ecstatic at the opportunity to be so close to history being made.

"This is a critical step in putting the first woman on the moon," Rebecca commented. As a woman, Rebecca is a minority in her engineering program. A lack of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) related fields is something Rebecca hopes to see changed.

"NASA is a leader in giving opportunities to women and minorities. Important perspectives in science are provided by women in STEM. For example, the medical study on osteoporosis being conducted on the space station, the research needs women in space to be studied because on earth the disease affects more women than men," Rebecca shared.

Rebecca looks to McArthur as an example of what women can accomplish and also hopes to make it to space one day. She said she would be proud to be the first woman on Mars.

SpaceX enthusiast and Florida resident Sterling Hall watched the launch from his front yard about 75 miles away.

He said the event was the most stunning he had ever seen, "Out of the 20-ish launches I've watched, that was the most magical," he shared moments after the Dragon's crew soared out of view.

The first "stage" - or booster with nine engines - separated from the capsule carrying the crew about 10 minutes after launch and returned to be reused on earth.

"The exhaust cloud shimmered and floated taking up a HUGE portion of the sky! The whole while, the first stage danced with pulses of gas as it reoriented and descended."

Sterling also shared a photo taken above his neighborhood that shows the dazzling display in the dark sky.

The first stage successfully landed in the Atlantic Ocean on a SpaceX drone ship named, "Of Course, I Still Love You" and will be reused on future missions.