BEGINNING NEW ERA FOR NASA: SPACEX LAUNCH 4 ASTRONAUTS INTO SPACE FOR ISS

Mon 16 November 2020:

Four astronauts launched into orbit on Sunday in the historic first operational flight for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA’s commercial crew mission.

This marks the second-ever crewed mission for Elon Musk’s private space-faring firm SpaceX, after the successful launch and return of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley with the Demo-2 mission this summer.

The crew includes NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi.

They are expected to dock with the ISS on Monday night after a 27-hour trip.

SpaceX’s first Crew Dragon carried two NASA astronauts — Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley — to the ISS in May. The launch was the first crewed mission from the US since the last space shuttle flight in 2011.

“This is another historic moment — it seems like every time I come to Kennedy [Space Center] we’re making history, and this is no different,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a pre-launch news conference on Friday. “The history being made this time is we’re launching what we call an operational flight to the International Space Station.”

“The whole goal here is to commercialize our activities in low-Earth orbit,” he added. “NASA wants to be one customer of many customers in a very robust commercial marketplace for human spaceflight in low-Earth orbit.”

Resilience rises. 🚀

The Crew-1 mission has lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket from @NASAKennedy at 7:27pm ET and is en route to the @Space_Station. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/5Q3uXSLvqt

— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2020

President Donald Trump hailed the liftoff and said NASA had improved with his administration.

“A great launch! @NASA was a closed up disaster when we took over. Now it is again the ‘hottest,’ most advanced space center in the world, by far!” Trump tweeted.

President-elect Joe Biden tweeted out his congratulations to the team on their successful launch.

“It’s a testament to the power of science and what we can accomplish by harnessing our innovation, ingenuity, and determination. I join all Americans and the people of Japan in wishing the astronauts Godspeed on their journey,” he tweeted.

Photo: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, topped with the Crew Dragon capsule, is launched carrying four astronauts on the first operational NASA commercial crew mission at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. November 15, 2020.

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