NASA, SpaceX ready to launch astronauts into space

WASHINGTON: This week, astronauts will take off from American soil for the first time since 2011, riding aboard a SpaceX capsule in a historic test flight to the International Space Station.

As per details, On May 27 at 4:33 pm EDT (2033 GMT), veteran NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will launch as co-commanders on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle, which will lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission, known as Demo-2, will fly the astronauts to the International Space Station. They are scheduled to arrive at the space station on May 28 and could stay in space anywhere from one to four months.

Demo-2 will be the first crewed launch to orbit from American soil since NASA’s shuttle program ended in 2011. In fact, Hurley was on the crew for both that final shuttle mission (STS-135) and the upcoming mission.

US President Donald Trump will be among the spectators at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to witness the launch, which has been given the green light despite months of lockdown due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

The general public, in a nod to COVID-19 restrictions, has been instructed to watch via a livestream as Crew Dragon is launched by a Falcon 9 rocket toward the International Space Station.

NASA’s Commercial Crew program, aimed at developing private spacecraft to transport American astronauts in to space, began under Barack Obama.

In the 22 years since the first components of the ISS were launched, only spacecraft developed by NASA and by the Russian space agency have carried crews there.

NASA used the illustrious shuttle program – huge, extremely complex, winged ships that carried dozens of astronauts into space for three decades.

However, their staggering cost – $200 billion for 135 flights – and two fatal accidents finally put an end to the program.