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NASA has announced that it will take two astronauts to the International Space Station later this month, using a musk rocket.
(NASA Video / Youtube / Reproduction)
While the coronavirus is changing plans and canceling events here on Earth, the weather is calmer in space. The pandemic did not prevent NASA from announcing SpaceX’s first manned trip, which will take place on May 27. This is the first time in 10 years that the space agency has dispatched a manned mission from the United States.
Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are part of the Demo-2 mission, which will take the crew to the International Space Station. The period they will spend there is not yet defined.
The announcement came through a tweet from Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator: “On May 27, NASA will again launch American astronauts on American rockets on American soil.”
The project is called America launch. The reason for so much publicity around American patriotism is simple: Since July 2011, the agency has used only Russian rockets, leaving Kazakhstan, to send astronauts to the space station.
This time, the two crew members will leave the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is the same location that the Apollo spacecraft launched, responsible for taking 12 astronauts to the moon. The rocket will launch at 4:32 p.m. local time (5:32 p.m. GMT) and should arrive at the station after 24 hours.
Astronauts will board a rocket from SpaceX, an aerospace systems company founded by Elon Musk. NASA has used the company’s rockets since 2012 to send supplies to the International Space Station, such as the Dragon capsule. However, this will be the first time they carry humans. Crew Dragon will do the honors, a modified version of the supply capsule.
Two private sector manufacturers competed to create a capsule that could take the crew into space: SpaceX and Boeing. The first, as you already know, ended up winning with Crew Dragon. Boeing candidate Starliner stayed on after presenting a problem with the watch during a test in December 2019.
In March of this year, the Dragon of the Crew orbited the Space Station with a mannequin on board and returned safely. Now, the latest test of the capsule will be to take the two astronauts to test the operating system in practice, making SpaceX the first private company to send people into space.
