The company of Elon Musk has passed the first part of its final Test Flight that’s part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The Crew Dragon has successfully launched atop the Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. There were two NASA astronauts on board. The Crew Dragon has launched at 12:22 pm PT. The Demo-2 mission is the first human spaceflight mission for SpaceX. It also shows the return of astronaut launches from the US soil since 2011.
Astronauts from NASA Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are now on their way to the International Space Station, where they will arrive on Sunday morning, at 7:27 am PT. NASA TV has come with coverage of the mission.
The crew said: “It was incredible. Appreciate all the hard work. Thanks for the great ride to space,” 12 minutes after reading the orbit.
Falcon 9 that was used to launch Crew Dragon returned for a great landing on SpaceX’s Of Course I Still Love You droneship.
The pandemic did not slow down the launch since SpaceX and NASA adjusted their working protocols and took care of the astronauts during the pre-flight quarantine period.
Jim Bridenstine stated: “Our country has been through a lot. But this is a unique moment when all of America can take a moment and look at our country do something stunning again, and that is to launch American astronauts on an American rocket from American soil to the space station.”
After being on the ISS for some time, Behnken and Hurley will get back to Earth in order to complete the mission. If all goes alright, SpaceX will start regular missions with Crew Dragon, and NASA will no longer rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
