Finally, SpaceX managed to successfully launch its first manned space flight, becoming the first private company to be able to achieve this historic achievement from US soil after a nine-year pause.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which arrived Sunday at the International Space Station, was loaded onto the Crow Dragon spacecraft, with two American astronauts on board, 49-year-old Bob Behnken and 53-year-old Doug Hurley. The rocket successfully took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, under the supervision of the U.S. space agency “NASA” and in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The two American astronauts will join three other astronauts on the International Space Station, one American and two Russians, and their mission is expected to last between one and four months.
The aim of this mission is to ensure the capability of “SpaceX” to carry passengers into space and return them safely to Earth. This experiment will determine the future of human space flight and NASA’s policy of collaboration with private companies in this field, especially given that the American agency, since 2011, has relied on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport its astronauts to the international space station.
NASA has offered contracts to the companies “SpaceX” and “Boeing”, valued at more than 3 billion dollars, to build a spacecraft. SpaceX, owned by South African billionaire Elon Musk, succeeded despite a five-year pause. The Boeing Star Liner spacecraft failed due to programming problems that made it necessary to revise its construction.
Be the first to comment