This is the second crew to launch the private space company.
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SpaceX sent four astronauts to the International Space Station in the first full taxi flight for NASA conducted by a private company.
The Falcon rocket thundered Sunday night from the Kennedy Space Center with three Americans and one Japanese, the second crew launched by SpaceX. The Dragon capsule on top, named Resilience by its crew in light of this year’s many challenges, especially COVID-19, reached orbit nine minutes later. It is scheduled to arrive at the space station late Monday and will remain there until spring.
“By working together in these difficult times, they have inspired the nation, the world and, in large part, the name of this incredible vehicle, Resilience,” Commander Mike Hopkins said just before takeoff.
Once he reached orbit, he radioed, “It was an incredible journey.”
Musk sidelined by COVID
Outcast by the coronavirus itself, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk was forced to monitor the action from afar. He tweeted that he “most likely” had a moderate case of COVID-19. NASA policy at the Kennedy Space Center requires anyone who tests positive for coronavirus to self-quarantine and remain in isolation.
Sunday’s launch follows just a few months after the test flight of two SpaceX pilots. It begins what NASA hopes will be a long series of crew rotations between the US and the space station, after years of delay. More people means more scientific research in the orbiting laboratory, according to officials.
Cheers and applause erupted at SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, after the capsule reached orbit and the first stage thruster landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic. Musk tweeted a single red heart.
The 27 1/2 hour door-to-door flight to the space station must be fully automated, although the crew can take control if necessary. SpaceX had to deal with the spikes from the pressure pump once the capsule reached orbit, but it solved the problem.
With COVID-19 still on the rise, NASA continued with the safety precautions in place for the SpaceX crew launch in May. The astronauts went into quarantine with their families in October. All launch personnel wore masks and the number of guests at Kennedy was limited. Even the two astronauts from the first SpaceX crew flight stayed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Vice President Mike Pence, president of the National Space Council, traveled from Washington and joined NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine to witness the launch.
“I didn’t start breathing until about a minute after it took off,” Pence said during a stop at SpaceX Launch Control to congratulate the workers.
Outside the gates of the space center, onlookers flocked to nearby beaches and towns.
NASA was concerned that a weekend liftoff, coupled with a dramatic night launch, could lead to a super spreader event. They urged the crowd to wear masks and keep safe distances. Similar pleas for the first SpaceX crew launch on May 30 went unheeded.
The gang
The three-man, one-woman crew led by Hopkins, an Air Force colonel, named their capsule Resilience in a nod not only to the pandemic, but also to racial injustice and contentious politics. It is as diverse as space crews come, including physicist Shannon Walker, commander of the Navy. Victor Glover, the first black astronaut on a long-term mission on a space station, and the Japanese Soichi Noguchi, who became the first person in nearly 40 years to launch himself in three types of spacecraft.
They headed to the launch pad at Teslas, another Musk company, after exchanging hand highs and hugs with their children and spouses, who huddled in the open car windows. Musk was replaced by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell when saying goodbye to the astronauts.
In addition to its sleek design and high-tech features, the Dragon capsule is quite spacious – it can carry up to seven people. Previous space capsules launched with no more than three. The extra space in the capsule was used for science experiments and supplies.
The four astronauts will join two Russians and an American who flew to the space station last month from Kazakhstan. The space station rose above the launch site just half a minute before liftoff.
SpaceX is expected to recycle the first stage propellant for the next crew launch. That is currently slated for late March, which would prepare the newly launched astronauts for a return to Earth in April. SpaceX would launch another team in late summer or early fall.
SpaceX and NASA wanted the thruster to recover so much that they delayed the launch attempt by a day, to give the floating platform time to reach its position in the Atlantic during the weekend after storm surge.
Boeing, the other crew transporter contracted by NASA, has been around for a year. A replay of last December’s software-ridden test flight without a crew is canceled until early next year, and the first astronaut flight of the Starliner capsule is not expected before summer.
NASA turned to private companies to transport cargo and crew to the space station, after the shuttle fleet retired in 2011. SpaceX qualified for both. With Kennedy back in astronaut launch action, NASA may stop buying seats on Russian Soyuz rockets. The last one cost $ 90 million.
SpaceX First Crew Commander Doug Hurley noted that it’s not just about saving money or easing the training load on crews.
“Bottom line: I think it’s better for us to fly from the United States if we can do it,” he said. The Associated Press last week.
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