Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, the chair of Space Florida, released the following statement upon the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon rocket and Dragon space capsule from Cape Canaveral:

“As chair of Space Florida, a proud partner with SpaceX, I congratulate the company and especially their visionary CEO Elon Musk, his staff and the NASA work force on a successful launch of the Falcon 9 rocket this morning and wish them further success when the Dragon capsule docks with the International Space Station later this week.

“This mission is an historic moment for Florida and America as private industry proves to the world that commercial space flight is viable. Today SpaceX has proved that Florida's ready and skilled work force and world-class infrastructure is second to none and ready to lead again in space launch, science and technology."