Lift-off for astronauts at dawn of ‘new era’
Musk’s Spacex firm ends Russian hold on rocket launches and signals start of commercial flights
FOUR astronauts were due to arrive at the International Space Station this morning after a successful lift-off on board a Spacex capsule that will pave the way for commercial flights.
Three Americans and a Japanese astronaut blasted off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, on the Crew Dragon spacecraft at 7:27pm local time on Sunday, ending a decade of reliance on Russia’s Soyuz rockets.
Spacex, the rocket company started by South African-born entrepreneur Elon Musk, last week received certification from Nasa that it had met the requirements for regular manned space voyages.
“For the first time in history, there is a commercial capability from a private sector entity to safely and reliably transport people to space,” said Phil Mcalister, director of commercial spaceflight development at Nasa.
The capsule separated from the second stage of the rocket 12 minutes after lift-off, at an altitude of 124 miles and a speed of 16,800 miles per hour.
Spacex confirmed it was on course to reach the space station 27 hours later, at about 4am UK time.
The crew will join two Russians and one American already at the station for their six-month mission.
Spacex briefly transmitted l ive images of the interior of the capsule – named Resilience – showing the astronauts in their seats, something neither the Russians nor the Americans had done before.
“This is a great day for the United States of America, and a great day for Japan,” said Jim Bridenstine, a Nasa administrator.
The crew included Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi.
Mr Glover is the first black astronaut to serve as a member of the station’s crew in the two decades that people have been living on the space station.
Joe Biden, US president-elect, hailed the launch on Twitter as “a testament to the power of science and what we can accomplish by harnessing our innovation, ingenuity, and determination”.
Donald Trump called it “great”, adding: “@Nasa was a closed up disaster when we took over. Now it is again the ‘hottest’, most advanced, space centre in the world, by far!”
Mike Pence, the vice-president, who attended the launch with his wife Karen, called it a “new era in human space exploration in America”.
The Crew Dragon capsule is the first craft to be certified by Nasa since the Space Shuttle nearly 40 years ago. Its launch vehicle is a reusable Falcon 9 rocket.
Spacex has signed contracts with Nasa valued in excess of £2.3 billion to develop an astronaut taxi service.
The firm is scheduled to launch two more crewed flights for Nasa in 2021 and four cargo refuelling missions. It overtook Boeing, a rival, after a failed test of its uncrewed Starliner craft last year.
Several companies have announced that they are buying flights on the Crew Dragon to take private passengers. Axiom Space has said it will take three tourists to the space station next year.
One passenger could be Tom Cruise, who is working with Nasa to make a film at the space station.