Crew Dragon launch
This spring will see the return of astronauts being launched from American soil aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule
This spring astronauts will return to Earth after their pioneering mission aboard the SpaceX capsule
The last time the US launched astronauts from American soil on a homemade spacecraft was the final mission of NASA’s Space Shuttle program, STS-135, on 8 July 2011. After 135 missions the program was brought to a close, and NASA instead began launching astronauts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard Russian Soyuz rockets.
Fast forward to 2020 and the space agency is preparing for a historic test flight as part of its Commercial Crew Program. This will eventually see SpaceX and Boeing become the US’ main transportation providers between the International Space Station (ISS) and Earth, and the next major step will occur on 27 May 2020. On this day, two NASA astronauts — Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley — will journey to the ISS aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft in the first crewed test mission, designated ‘Demo-2’.
The launch will take place at approximately 21:32 BST (16:32 EDT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the same site that initiated multiple Apollo and Space Shuttle missions. As the torch is handed over to SpaceX, this is not just a huge step in returning operations to the US in a grand patriotic fashion, but represents the trust shown between space agencies and private aerospace companies and how the relationship has developed over the last decade.
SpaceX is a great example of this. Over the years, the company has gained the confidence of NASA to not only be trusted with resupply missions to the ISS, but is now delivering astronauts to the Space Station. These partnerships prove to a new generation that space is more accessible now than it ever has been.
The first test mission, dubbed Demo-1, was conducted on 2 March 2019 and saw the empty Crew Dragon capsule delivered to the ISS, returning back to Earth with a splash six days later. Around a month after the test, the same capsule was destroyed in an explosion caused by the thrusters during further testing. This explosion pushed back the manned launch as the aerospace company looked to get to the bottom of the problem to ensure that the same thing will not occur with passengers on board.
In January 2020 SpaceX aced an abort test that saw a Falcon 9 rocket explode intentionally to prove that the Crew Dragon capsule can evade such a dangerous situation and return the astronauts safely to Earth. This was monumental in the aim of regaining confidence in the capsule, and as a result, the launch date of 23 May has been designated for the next stage in evolving this important step in commercial spaceflight.
“These Partnerships prove to a new generation that space is more accessible now than it ever has been”