SpaceX completed the first private spacecraft docking with the International Space Station in 2012.
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft launched on the company's COTS Demo Flight 2 mission on May 22, 2012. After a series of tests and a brief sensor-related delay, Dragon was captured by the station's robotic Canadarm2 on May 25 and berthed with the International Space Station.
The mission was part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, which encouraged private companies to develop cargo vehicles for station resupply. Dragon returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on May 31, 2012, carrying cargo and experiment results.
The flight is often described as the first commercial spacecraft mission to reach the station, but it was a NASA-supported demonstration rather than an ordinary commercial airline-style service. SpaceX later developed crewed Dragon spacecraft, and NASA's Commercial Crew Program began transporting astronauts with Crew Dragon in 2020.