Updated 5:11 a.m.:

In a brief press availability, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden expressed his congratulations to the teams at both NASA and SpaceX early Tuesday.

“Today marks a new era in space exploration,” said Bolden in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

“The significance of this day cannot be overstated,” he continued, ”While there’s a lot of work ahead to successfully complete this mission, we’re certainly off to a good start.”

“We’re handing off to the private sector our transportation to the International Space Station so that NASA can focus on what we do best: Exploring even deeper into our solar system.”

“Congratulations to the SpaceX and NASA teams, and godspeed Dragon,” he concluded before taking questions.

“What it does today is it demonstrates what we said is the future of American space exploration,” Bolden said when asked what effect the launch might have on naysayers of commercial spaceflight.

“It’s a great day for America. It’s actually a great day for the world. There are people who thought we had gone away. And today says, ‘No ,we have not gone away at all.’”

“It was just a picture-perfect launch,” he continued. “This is what makes peope in the space business get up in the morning and come to work.”

Bolden concluded the press availability quickly, saying he was on his way back to Washington, D.C.

Updated 4:35 a.m.:

NASA has posted the above video replaying the launch, after officially signing off their live coverage. Meanwhile, reactions have already started to trickle in. John P. Holdren, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology issued the following statement:

“Congratulations to the teams at SpaceX and NASA for this morning’s successful launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Every launch into space is a thrilling event, but this one is especially exciting because it represents the potential of a new era in American spaceflight. Partnering with U.S. companies such as SpaceX to provide cargo and eventually crew service to the International Space Station is a cornerstone of the President’s plan for maintaining America’s leadership in space. 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. I could not be more proud of our NASA and SpaceX scientists and engineers, and I look forward to following this and many more missions like it.”

Updated 4:03 a.m.:

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

As solar rays on the rocket deployed, video shows SpaceX staff on the ground hugging and high-fiving as the Falcon 9 enters orbit. The successful launch marks an historic event for NASA and SpaceX, marking the first commercial spacecraft to be sent to the International Space Station. But the mission has just started, with the Dragon capsule needing to successfully complete a number of maneuvers and tests before docking with the space station.

The six member crew on board the space station was able to watch the launch prior to entering into their morning planning meetings, according to NASA.

.@Spacex Mission Control with throngs of screaming fans in the background. #dragonlaunch twitpic.com/9nx7wk

— Jonah Weiland (@jonahweiland) May 22, 2012

Updated 3:51 a.m.: The video angle aboard the Falcon 9 showed a successful separations so far and a glowing red rocket cowl. The launch marks the first attempt to send a commercial spacecraft to rendezvous with the International Space Station.

According to NASA, the rocket entered orbit around 3:52 a.m. to applause at mission control.

Updated: 3:44 a.m.: And the rocket is airborne with everything looking good so far. The vehicle was soon supersonic, and reached “maximum aerodynamic pressure.”

Liftoff!!!! #DragonLaunch spacex.com

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 22, 2012

Updated 3:42 a.m. - “Launch director is go for launch.” It looks like we’re almost there.

Updated 3:37: The countdown clock is at less than 10 minutes before launch:

T minus 10 minutes ... Entering terminal count #dragonlaunch

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 22, 2012

Updated 3:30 a.m.:

Reuters reported Monday afternoon that the Falcon 9 also carries “holding lipstick-tube-sized canisters filled with cremated remains,” including Mercury Astronaut Gordon Cooper and actor James Doohan, best known as Star Trek’s Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, the fictional craft’s chief engineer. Those are among the remains of 300 individuals being carried by the rocket.

Updated 3:15 a.m.:

Again, while we’re waiting: On May 18, NASA posted a video chronicling the agency’s commercial space-flight endeavor. The mini-documentary chronicles the history of NASA’s emerging partnerships. The agency shared the video over its Twitter feed Tuesday morning. The video describes the International Space Station as “our permanent home in space” and outlines Orbital Sciences and SpaceX as the competitors closes to the final stages of testing with NASA.

Update 3:00a.m.

While we’re waiting, I noticed that noted Star Trek actor and Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton is awake and watching the Falcon 9 launch, at least according to his Twitter feed. Burton is known for playing, among other roles, Star Trek The Next Generation’s Geordi LaForge:

I know I should be sleeping but I'm stayin' up to watch anyway. #dragonlaunch #nasatv #ilovethisstuff

— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) May 22, 2012

Updated 2:50 a.m.: We are about 1 hour away from launch time, with programming on NASA’s live video feed starting at 2:30 a.m.

Meteorologists at CCAFS in Fla. are calling for an 80 percent chance of acceptable weather at #dragonlaunch time, which is 3:44 a.m. EDT.

— NASA Kennedy / KSC (@NASAKennedy) May 22, 2012

Fueling of the Falcon 9 rocket has started and weather conditions over the launch pad are “really, really good,” according to NASA.

Original Post: The launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was delayed until Tuesday at 3:44 a.m. Below is the live video feed of the launch provided by NASA:

The engines of the SpaceX Falcon 9 light but fail to launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 19, 2012 in Titusville, Florida. (Roberto Gonzalez - GETTY IMAGES)

Updated 2:32 p.m. 5/21 - The Associated Press reports that a new launch date has been set for Tuesday at 3:44 a.m.

Updated 8:30 a.m.:

The SpaceX lanch was delayed yet again, this time at the last minute. The launch was aborted at the end of the countdown early Saturday morning, according to the Associated Press, even catching NASA’s seasoned commenter George Diller by surprise:

“Three, two, one, zero and liftoff,” announced commentator George Diller, his voice trailing as the rocket failed to budge. “We’ve had a cutoff. Liftoff did not occur.”

Diller completed the countdown, but SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket remained on the launch pad.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said during a press conference Saturday that “this is not a failure” and that they “aborted on purpose.” Shotwell says May 22 or May 23 are being explored as potential launch dates.

Will the activism of the future require clicking on ads rather than ignoring them? (Adam Berry - GETTY IMAGES) This piece originally appeared on the WaPo Labs Blog on May21.WaPo Labs is the digital team at the Washington Post Company focused on innovation and experimenting with emerging technologies.

During the last several decades, scrawled on the walls of subway stations, roadside billboards, and city buildings, a particular form of culture jamming known as subvertising grew in popularity. Subvertising is the practice of making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements with the intent to expose assumptions behind commercial culture – think of the spoof ads in Adbusters or altered corporate billboards.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the celebration of ringing the Nasdaq opening bell May 18, 2012 in Menlo Park, California. (Handout - GETTY IMAGES) It’s time — yet again — for the weekly wrap-up of stories on Ideas@Innovations and elsewhere on the Web. It was an interesting week, covering everything from the Facebook IPO (read the latest from the Post’s Hayley Tsukayama), Hollywood's impending doom, JPMorgan’s missing billions, a misplaced bias against humanities students in Silicon Valley, the Instagram Industry and the merging of moguls in Silicon Valley and Hollywood.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive officer of Facebook Inc., center, leaves the Sheraton hotel in New York, U.S., on Monday, May 7, 2012. (Scott Eells - BLOOMBERG)

The roadshow for the upcoming Facebook IPO, together with the heightened public scrutiny into Facebook's inner workings, has opened our eyes to the ways the Internet business as we know it looks a lot like the entertainment industry.

As much as we want to think that companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Google are somehow part of a new Internet zeitgeist, the fact is that they rely on advertising dollars for their profitability, just like any other media or entertainment property. The moguls with hoodies are now concerned about everything their entertainment colleagues are worried about: making their advertisers happy, cranking out blockbuster hits, and achieving scale and distribution. Is it possible that, already, Silicon Valley and Hollywood are just different sides of the same coin?