Not only will the launch be NASA’s first manned crew mission to the ISS since 2011, but it will also be the first launch of a rocket owned by a private company – SpaceX, the commercial space company founded by Elon Musk.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon mission in May is dubbed Demo-2, reports CNN, and will be the final test for Crew Dragon before NASA transitions to operational crewed flights to the space station using the spacecraft.
BREAKING: On May 27, SpaceX partners, Astro_Doug and AstroBehnken will launch to the Space_Station on the CrewDragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Let’s LaunchAmerica RINb3mfRWI
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) April 17, 2020
NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are both former military test pilots and veteran astronauts who previously flew on space shuttle missions. The launch is scheduled for May 27 at 4:32 p.m. ET. Liftoff will be from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no crowds of onlookers lining the beaches and roadways along Florida’s Space Coast to watch the historic launch to the ISS.
The lack of spectators will also be a historic first -Nearly every crewed US mission since Alan Shepard became the first American to reach space in 1961 has been seen by thousands of onlookers along Florida’s Space Coast.
Astronauts haven’t launched into orbit from the U.S. since NASA’s last space shuttle flight in 2011. SpaceX aims to end the drought by sending two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station April 17, 2020
NASA is allowing a limited number of reporters on-site and will not be hosting any members of the public. “This has become yet another footnote in the story of coronavirus and its impact on America,” said Dale Ketcham, a vice president at Space Florida, a local industry group.
“But NASA is continuing to press ahead with Commercial Crew because there is a profound obligation to keep the space station operational.”
The launch of the astronauts from American soil will also help NASA financially. The space agency has struggled to maintain a consistent presence on the International Space Station, paying Russia $83 million per seat for a ride to the station on board a Soyuz rocket.
