Milestone mission

Saturday’s launch put astronauts back into orbit, and America back in space business.

The nation that first sent humans to the moon launched two more into the sky Saturday afternoon, a final and highstakes test of a new approach by NASA to manned spaceflight that, if successful, could change nearly everything about the way America engages with space.

The launch had been scrubbed Wednesday by NASA’s exemplary caution, and Saturday’s storms threatened to cancel it once more, but improving conditions cleared the way for the once-familiar fiery spectacle at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On hand as the countdown approached zero and the massive rockets blazed into thundering, thrilling life were celebrities, space junkies and politicians — including President Donald Trump, freshly arrived from the White House.

The prelaunch anticipation had been unusually intense, especially since the destination for the two astronauts — Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken — is the relatively close-by International Space Station, where crews supported by the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and 11 European nations have been making flights possible to and from for years.

This time, however, the rocket ferrying the astronauts into low orbit is an American rocket, launched from American soil. That hasn’t happened since 2011, when the space shuttle program was discontinued and NASA began hailing rides for its astronauts aboard Russian rockets.

Now, America is back in the rocket business, and this time with a partner. The rocket that blasted off Saturday and the capsule that, 19 hours later, docked with the space station was designed, built and owned by a private company, Elon Musk’s pioneering SpaceX.

The astronauts docked with the International Space Station on Sunday morning and will spend up to four months there before returning to Earth. If the mission is successful — and Saturday’s clean launch was a major milestone — it will validate a vision of a public-private partnership born years ago. It stands to radically transform the U.S. space program, right down to Johnson Space Center in Houston. Saturday’s launch was the final test for the concept, which involves NASA serving as a client. The expectation is for SpaceX and, eventually, other firms to be hauling people and cargo to and from space regularly.

Eric Berger, a former Chronicle reporter who is now senior space editor at the science and technology publication Ars Technica, told the editorial board that while Saturday’s launch represents a major test for the new approach, he sees nothing but upside so far.

“Honestly, this has been a great program; fusing the brash, fast-moving, fix-it-and-fly style of SpaceX with NASA’s lumbering bureaucracy but deep human spaceflight knowledge. It’s worked out for both, and the taxpayers,” Berger said.

It’s also seen as just the beginning. SpaceX and others are dreaming of delivering payloads ranging from human tourists to commercial cargo in and out of the lower orbit above Earth. And NASA is eyeing a return to the moon, with a giant landing station orbiting that silvery satellite. That in turn will allow missions to Mars and beyond to be undertaken in stages.

The expansive vision of NASA as both a partner and a leader in manned spaceflight was given a key boost by the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017, a massive overhaul of the space program that was sponsored by Houston’s Sen. Ted Cruz, an early champion of private space exploration.

“This marks the renewal of our leadership in space, and the first time American astronauts are manning a commercially created rocket,” Cruz told the editorial board, just ahead of the launch, which he said had “been years in the making.”

There are endless questions yet to be answered about the trajectory ahead for NASA and, especially, the role played by Johnson Space Center. JSC has been at the forefront of manned space exploration since NASA first earned its indelible place in the world’s imagination in the run-up to the 1969 moon landing. Will that continue?

It continues to serve as program manager for the ISS itself, and is Mission Control for the SpaceX launch, too. But with so much else in flux about America’s plans for space, nothing is certain.

But for now, Saturday’s launch reminds us of our unchanging wonder at the potential for knowledge, experience and perspective hidden in places far from Earth. Last year, astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent a year aboard the space station, told the editorial board that the seeing the “fragile” Earth from space can change one’s perspective.

“There is this thing astronauts call the overview effect, or an orbital perspective,” he said. “It’s from seeing the Earth from space, which makes you feel in tune with humanity a little bit. … You see more clearly how we’re all on this planet together and that the way we solve problems is by cooperating with one another.”

There is no shortage of problems for the world, or for Houston, at the moment. Perhaps we can all use a bit of the orbital perspective that so impressed itself upon Kelly during his long tenure orbiting the planet.

Meanwhile, we can all share in the pride in the successful launch as we send prayers for a safe return.