NASA resumes human spaceflight from US soil after nine years
31 May, 2020
SpaceX, the private rocket company of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, launched two Americans into orbit from Florida on Saturday in a landmark mission marking the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted faraway from the Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 p.m. EDT (19:22 GMT), launching Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a 19-hour ride aboard the company’s newly designed Crew Dragon capsule bound for the International Space Station.
Right before liftoff, Hurley said, “SpaceX, we’re choose launch. Let’s light this candle,” paraphrasing the famous comment uttered on the launch pad in 1961 by Alan Shepard, the first American flown into space.
Minutes after launch, the first-stage booster rocket of the Falcon 9 separated from the upper second-stage rocket and flew itself back to Earth to descend safely onto a landing platform floating in the Atlantic.
High above the Earth, the Crew Dragon jettisoned occasions later from the second-stage rocket, sending the capsule coming to the area station.
The exhilarating spectacle of the rocket soaring flawlessly in to the heavens came as a welcome triumph for a nation gripped by racially-charged civil unrest together with ongoing fear and monetary upheaval from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Falcon 9 became popular from the same launch pad used by NASA’s final space shuttle flight, piloted by Hurley, in 2011. Since that time, NASA astronauts experienced to affix rides into orbit aboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.
“It’s incredible, the energy, the technology,” said U.S. President Donald Trump, who was at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida for the launch. “That was a lovely sight to see.”
The mission’s first launch attempt on Wednesday was called off with significantly less than 17 minutes remaining on the countdown clock. Weather again threatened Saturday’s launch, but cleared with time to proceed with the mission.
SPACEFLIGHT MILESTONES
NASA chief Jim Bridenstine has said resuming launches of American astronauts on American-made rockets from U.S. soil may be the space agency’s top priority.
“I’m breathing a sigh of relief, but I'll also let you know I’m not gonna celebrate until Bob and Doug are home safely.” Bridenstine said.
For Musk, the launch represents another milestone for the reusable rockets his company pioneered to make spaceflight less costly and more frequent. And it marks the 1st time commercially developed space vehicles - owned and operated by an exclusive entity instead of NASA - have carried Americans into orbit.
The last time NASA launched astronauts into space aboard a whole new vehicle was 40 years ago at the start of the space shuttle program.
Musk, the South African-born high-tech entrepreneur who made his fortune in Silicon Valley, can be leader of electric carmaker and battery manufacturer Tesla Inc. He founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, formally referred to as Space Exploration Technologies, in 2002.
Hurley, 53, and Behnken, 49, NASA employees under contract to fly with SpaceX, are anticipated to remain at the area station for many weeks, assisting a short-handed crew aboard the orbital laboratory.
Boeing Co, producing its launch system in competition with SpaceX, is likely to fly its CST-100 Starliner vehicle with astronauts aboard for the very first time next year. NASA has awarded practically $8 billion combined to SpaceX and Boeing for development of their rival rockets.
Trump also hailed the launch as a significant advance toward the goal of eventually sending humans to Mars.
He was joined at the viewing by Musk, along with Vice President Mike Pence, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Florida congressman Matt Gaetz and Senator Rick Scott.
Previously Saturday, the crew bid goodbye to their families. Ahead of climbing into a specifically designed Tesla automobile for the ride to the launch site, Behnken told his young son, “Be best for mom. Make her life easy.”
During the drive, Behnken and Hurley passed former astronaut Garrett Reisman who held a sign saying, “Take me with you.”
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