Space X Crew Dragon Marks New Era for Commercial Space Travel
“Go NASA, Go Space X, Godspeed Dough and Bob” could be heard as the Space X Crew Dragon made its historic launch from The Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Crew Dragon, the first space shuttle to launch from the US in nine years, and the first ever private shuttle to be launched into orbit by a private company, rather than a country, has successfully docked at the International Space Station in May 31, after a nineteen-hour journey, where they joined three American astronauts and two Russian cosmonauts. Piloted by former Marine Douglas Hurley, and former Air Force test pilot Robert Behnken, Space X was launched at 3:22 EST on May 30, 2020 and was carried into orbit by Falcon 9.
On my first flight STS-127 on Shuttle Endeavour, we scrubbed 5 times over the course of a month for technical and weather challenges. All launch commit criteria is developed way ahead of any attempt. This makes the correct scrub/launch decision easier in the heat of the moment. https://t.co/mOKQ5uBia4
— Col. Doug Hurley (@Astro_Doug) May 29, 2020
Space X was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, who continues to be the majority owner of the company with the goal of reducing space travel costs in order to take humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The Falcon 9, the first rocket that is capable of re-flight, has already completed 83 launches, but this is the first time that it has carried human astronauts into orbit.
The success of the SpaceX program has given inspiration for future missions, including a trip to the moon. NASA Deputy Admiral Jim Morhard, has remarked that the last two days will inspire the “Artemis generation, which is our next generation.”
The liftoff was originally scheduled for earlier in the week but was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions. Even today, there was a chance that the launch would be a no-go even in the last hour prior to liftoff.
While a space launch typically would have a crowd, officials had urged residents to stay indoors and watch the broadcast instead due to the social distancing advice that is still in effect due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
