#NASA, #SpaceX Launch Historic #Mission to International Space Station

Issued by S&T

One of the most anticipated missions in human spaceflight occurred today, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared to life at the Kennedy Space Center’s launch complex 39A with the new Crew Dragon capsule on its second demonstration mission — and its first flight carrying crew. Liftoff occurred on Saturday, May 30th at 3:22 p.m. EDT/19:22 UT. This marks the first launch from American soil since the retirement of NASA's space shuttle program in 2011.

"I've heard that rumble before, but it's a whole different feeling when you've got your own team on that rocket," says NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. "They are our team. They are America's team."

The crew consists of NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, both space shuttle veterans. Their mission parameters were nominal from liftoff to low-Earth orbit. The Falcon 9 first stage booster also landed successfully on the Of Course I Still Love You platform in the Atlantic, just over nine minutes after liftoff.

Demo 2 is meant to put the new Dragon spacecraft through its paces before the launch of the first operational/contracted mission, USCV-1 (U.S. Crew Vehicle-1) slated for August 30, 2020. That mission will carry four crew members and overlaps with the slated return of Crew Dragon Demo 2 in September. Though the Crew Dragon capsule has a seating capacity of seven, NASA only intends to seat four astronauts on later scheduled missions to the International Space Station (ISS).

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-blogs/astronomy-space-david-dickinson/nasa-spacex-historic-crewed-launch/