SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft took off at 3:22 p.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center. That's in Cape Canaveral, Fla. It carried U.S. astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station (ISS).
Called Demo-2, the launch and flight is the ultimate test of the ability to use this new system to take a crew into orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket then returned to Earth and safely landed on a floating platform.
"So rises a new era of American spaceflight,” said Dan Huot of NASA, shortly afterward — "and with it the ambitions of a new generation continuing the dream."
Many things are taking place:
The Technology 202: SpaceX's historic launch could mark a new era in space exploration - The
Elon Musk's firm SpaceX is set to become the first private company to launch humans into orbit, as long as the weather cooperates. The launch will be the most high-profile test to date for the company — which my colleague Christian Davenport reports was once criticized as a billionaire's long shot fantasy.
"One industry veteran told me, 'You know their rockets are put together with rubber bands and sealing wax,'" Lori Garver, a former deputy National Aeronautics and Space Administration who pushed the agency to outsource human spaceflight to the private sector, told Christian. "'It's not real. It won't fly.'"
Our View: A new frontier for U.S. space program | Editorials | mankatofreepress.com
But what's truly historic is that NASA for the first time has tied its manned space program to a commercial spaceship.
The SpaceX craft successfully delivered two astronauts to the Space Station, marking a new chapter in public-private ventures in space exploration.
Hopefully the new interest in space travel based on partnerships between private companies and NASA will stir excitement in Americans about exploration.
Many today didn't get to experience the thrills, pride — and tragedies — the country experienced during the heyday of NASA space exploration. The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions of the 1960s and '70s mesmerized Americans.
Florida's Fourth Estate: The thing everyone wonders about space travel
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ORLANDO, Fla. – It has been a long time coming but the United States is on the cusp of history once again as American astronauts prepare to launch from Florida's Space Coast.
News 6 anchors Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden talk with colleague and space expert, Erik von Ancken, about his years of covering the space program and having a front seat to this extraordinary moment.
We also find out the one question astronauts do not seem to want to answer about lengthy space travel.
Other things to check out:
Best Astronaut Books | Space
Astronauts are amazing. We all know it's true, so it is worth saying. This is a collection of some of the Space.com writer's favorite books about or written by those who risk space travel so we can progress into the future.
Reading books written by, or about, astronauts can give us an insight into this unique breed of people and can inspire those who have their eye on the stars.
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This autobiography of astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon alone while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the lunar surface, sets the standard for astronaut-authored memoirs and provides a definitive but personal account of Apollo 11. "Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey" has been re-released as a 50th-anniversary edition.
3 Companies Helping NASA Usher in a New Space Age
SpaceX captured headlines for accomplishing something no private company has done before: launching two astronauts into orbit . Aside from the initial launch date's delay due to weather, the historic flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon went off without a hitch. Veteran astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken docked at the International Space Station 19 hours after blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The success of the Crew Dragon launch isn't just a win for SpaceX. It's also a major victory for NASA's Commercial Crew Program , a partnership with both SpaceX and Boeing designed to develop spacecraft and rockets capable of launching humans into orbit.
For the astronauts launching on SpaceX's Crew Dragon, space travel is all in the (NASA) family |
UPDATE: SpaceX's first attempt to launch the Demo-2 mission on Wednesday (May 27) was scrubbed due to bad weather . The next launch try will be on Saturday (May 30) at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT).
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In the days of Apollo , astronaut families watched dutifully as their fathers and husbands marched out to the launch pad; the family unable to relate to what their loved ones were going through as they marched out to their spaceship. In more recent years, however, it's not unusual for astronaut family members to know exactly what that walk out to the rocket is like because they've done it themselves.
Launch Marks New Era in US Space Travel - But With a Twist | Voice of America - English
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - Even by using the tools at his disposal at the Adler Planetarium situated along the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Director of Astronomy Geza Gyuk acknowledges there is a limit to what he can see and do in understanding the cosmos.
"We've got a 24-inch telescope in the back of the Adler. It's not a great place to do observing because of all the light pollution from Chicago," he explained to VOA in an interview via Skype.
Gyuk said he and many other astronomers around the world depend on experiments and equipment — like the Hubble Telescope — deployed by astronauts above Earth's atmosphere to help them not only "see" the cosmos in new and different ways, but also to see the Earth from above.
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The CSA congratulates @NASA and @SpaceX for making space history this weekend. Relive the exciting moment when two… https://t.co/oZ0dUIuke7 csa_asc (from Saint-Hubert, Quebec, Canada) Mon Jun 01 18:43:27 +0000 2020
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