SpaceX successfully launches its first crewed spaceflight
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“SpaceX successfully launches its first crewed spaceflight” by Wikinews is licensed under CC BY 2.5
SpaceX successfully launched its first crewed mission at 1922 UTC yesterday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley in a Crew Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket. This was the first launch of a crewed spacecraft from the United States since NASA’s final Space Shuttle mission in July 2011 — a mission Hurley piloted.
SpaceX, backed by entrepreneur Elon Musk, is the first private company to send astronauts into space. The company has engineered and operated reusable rockets, potentially reducing the overall cost of future space missions. Shortly after the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage disengaged and returned to an autonomous spaceport drone ship off the coast, to be refurbished and reused on a future mission. Behnken and Hurley are slated to catch up to the International Space Station (ISS) for a stay of one to four months, docking today at 1429 UTC.
The originally planned launch on Wednesday afternoon, local time, was scrubbed due to inclement weather conditions less than 20 minutes before scheduled launch time, with the schedule pushed back to yesterday. Unlike Wednesday’s scrub, however, yesterday’s launch proceeded without issue. Hurley, on radio following the minutes-long ride to low Earth orbit, said, “It was incredible”.
SpaceX’s launch is the latest development in a program initiated in earnest by NASA’s 2014 selection of SpaceX, along with Boeing, to be an initial commercial contractor providing transportation for NASA astronauts to the ISS. Boeing’s first crewed mission is reportedly expected to launch next year. Since the retirement of the Space Shuttles in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport its astronauts to the orbiting space station.
Hurley, along with his fellow crew members aboard the final Shuttle mission, had left a small U.S. flag aboard the ISS, to be retrieved when the U.S. space program was once again able to launch astronauts to the outpost. Hurley and Behnken, when they depart, plan to return this flag to Earth after a nearly nine-year hiatus to commemorate the milestone. The exact timing of their return is not set, however, as it depends on the continued performance of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, and on when the next Crew Dragon mission occurs, which NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said may be ready to launch by late August.
Bridenstine remarked of the remainder of the test flight, “I’m breathing a sigh of relief, but I will also tell you I’m not gonna celebrate until Bob and Doug are home safely.” Hurley, for his part, paraphrased the first U.S. citizen in space, Alan Shepard, commenting before launch on the occasion of the United States’ return to human spaceflight capability: “SpaceX we’re go for launch. Let’s light this candle.”
- When was the last launch of a crewed spacecraft from the US before this launch?
- What is the benefit of a reusable rocket?
- What happened with the originally planned launch?
- What happened after the retirement of the US Space Shuttles in 2011?
- What was the purpose of NASA’s launch of the new program in 2014?
- Would you be willing to participate in a space trip?
- How much would you be willing to spend on a space trip?
- Please explain the difference between a public and a private company.
- Why do you think Nasa outsourced the rocket launch to SpaceX?
- Do you know if there’s any relationship between SpaceX and Tesla?
- If you could buy stocks of SpaceX, would you invest in the company?
- What is the value of space travel and exploration?
- Considering the physical impact on a disengaged rocket, do you think it is safe to reuse it?
- Would you rather spend NASA’s budget on different causes, such as social matters?
- Who do you think would have a strong interest in space travel and why?
