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The US space agency The US, NASA, has announced that it will send two American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 27. The mission will take place aboard SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon capsule.
According to NASA, the mission of the two American astronauts will take place on May 27, this being the first manned flight launched from the United States in almost ten years.
“On May 27, NASA will again launch American astronauts aboard a US missile on US soil!” Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator, wrote on his Twitter account.
“Together with our partners SpaceX, @Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken will be launched to the Space Station with the Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket,” added Bridenstine, referring to astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken.
Since July 2011, Americans have relied on Russian missiles to tackle the ISS.
NASA currently relies on the Russian Space Agency, Roskosmos and its Soyuz rockets and pods to transport astronauts into orbit, and the price of these services is not low at all: a seat in a three-person Soyuz pod costs around 80 million dollars.
Because of this, since 2014, NASA has signed contracts with private partners, SpaceX and Boeing, worth $ 2.6 billion and $ 4.2 billion, respectively, to guarantee the transportation of astronauts to and from the ISS. Like SpaceX, Boeing is working on a capsule to transport astronauts into orbit – the CST-100 Starliner.
