"the opening volley in a business revolution encircling Earth and eventually stretching to the moon and Mars."

Valerie Edwards reports in part in the Daily Mail,

SpaceX delivered two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA on Sunday, following up a historic liftoff with an equally smooth docking in yet another first for Elon Musk's company.

With test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken poised to take over manual control if necessary, the SpaceX Dragon capsule pulled up to the station and docked automatically, no assistance needed.

'Soft capture,' the moment when the spacecraft makes first contact and starts latching with the target vehicle, occurred at 10.16am ET

It was followed a few minutes later by 'hard capture' when an airtight seal was completed.

'We copy docking is complete,' said a member of the crew. 'It's been a real honor to be a small part of this nine year endeavor since the last time a United States spaceship has docked with the International Space Station.'

It was the first time a privately built and owned spacecraft carried astronauts to the orbiting lab in its nearly 20 years.

...The spacecraft had to perform a series of maneuvers to raise its obit to come close enough to dock at the space station.

The Dragon docked autonomously to a port on the bow section of the of the station’s Harmony module.

Once the capsule was latched securely to the space station, the congratulations flowed from NASA, SpaceX and the astronauts.

'Congratulations on a phenomenal accomplishment and welcome to the International Space Station,' SpaceX Mission Control said from Hawthorne, California.

'Bravo on a magnificent moment in spaceflight history,' NASA's Mission Control radioed to everyone from Houston.

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy greeted the incoming crew by ringing the ship's bell aboard the space station.

Next, the vestibule between the Dragon and the ISS will be pressurized and the hatch will then be opened, in about an hour.

Once the Dragon is sealed in place Hurley and Behnken will join the three other space station residents, NASA's Cassidy and Russia’s Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, to become members of the Expedition 63 crew.

The mission, named Demo-2, marks the first time NASA has launched astronauts from US soil in nine years.

NASA considers this the opening volley in a business revolution encircling Earth and eventually stretching to the moon and Mars.

Read more and watch the astronauts live here.