Tonight is a historic event: SpaceX will take astronauts into open space for the first time

The rocket launch with astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley is scheduled for May 27 at 4 p.m. 33 min. Local time (11:33 p.m., Lithuanian) from the Kennedy Space Center. The missile will fly to the International Space Station (ISS), which currently has two Russians and one American.

A new era of manned space flight will begin on Wednesday with the launch of SpaceX rockets with two NASA astronauts.

For six decades, manned space flight has symbolized the power of a few states that the United States has not had in the past nine years.

If weather conditions improve, at 4 p.m. 33 min. The SpaceX rocket with the new Crew Dragon capsule took off from the launch site of Kennedy Space Center 39A at local time (11:33 p.m., Lithuania). Neil Armstrong and his Apollo colleagues took off from the same location for a historic flight to the Moon.

Crew Dragon, piloted by NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, will travel to the International Space Station (ISS).

The flight is proceeding despite quarantine measures imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Both astronauts have been quarantined for the past two weeks.

This mission is seen as a crucial step for the United States to end its dependence on members of the Russian spacecraft’s flying crew to and from TKS.

You can watch the live stream on NASA’s official website HERE.

Since 2011, when the space shuttle’s reusable spacecraft program was completed, American astronauts have been flown to the International Space Station by the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

If the SpaceX mission is successful, EE. USA You will achieve your goal and you will no longer have to pay for seats on Soyuz rockets for your astronauts to get to TKS.

In recent years, the United States has spent billions of dollars on SpaceX and Boeing to regain the ability to send astronauts into space.

Professor Loiza Heracleous, an expert in the space industry at the Warwick Business School who advised NASA, said in a press release that SpaceX had chosen the correct historical launch site for this historic mission with NASA. However, according to him, today the space race is very different from the ones that Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon.

“Private companies, including SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, have joined the space race for the beliefs and vision of people investing billions of pounds,” said the professor.

According to him, many entrepreneurs who invest in space grew up at a time when children seemed reasonable to believe that flights to and from the Moon would be common in the 21st century.

“They feel cheated. Now they want to use their wealth to make space tourism viable before they can enjoy it, “says Heracleous.

However, bad weather can also set foot on this important day. If that happened, the flight would be delayed until May 30.