SpaceX & NASA Complete Historic Launch Of Astronauts From US Soil

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DM-2 Lifts off at Kennedy Space Center. // Source: SpaceX livestream, NASA

Cape Canaveral, Florida — The much-anticipated launch of the Demo-2 mission marks the first time NASA has launched astronauts from American soil since the end of the Shuttle program. Originally planned for launch on Wednesday, the mission took place earlier today, Saturday, May 30th.

Shuttle mission STS-135 launched in 2011, leaving a nearly 9-year gap until this launch. Since then, the United States has relied on Russia for crewed spaceflight. A triumphant mission, the space agency hopes to not only lessen our reliance on foreign countries for access to space, but to also facilitate American ingenuity.

Crew Dragon on the pad at Kennedy Space Center. // Source: NASA/SpaceX

While the capsule design of Crew Dragon may seem like a downgrade from the extravagance of the Space Shuttle, there are many reasons why SpaceX and NASA decided to use this design.

Equipped with an abort system, the Crew Dragon spacecraft could eject off of the Falcon 9 at a moment’s notice. This concept was tested earlier this year on SpaceX’s Demo-1 mission, in which they purposefully aborted launch mid-flight on an empty capsule.

Additionally, Crew Dragon has various improvements for the astronauts within it. Notably, while strapping in the crew for Shuttle missions was infamously arduous, Behnken and Hurley were secured in a matter of minutes in Crew Dragon.

Mission Timeline

Leading up to launch, the weather forecast around Cape Canaveral increased from roughly 50% on the day of the launch to 70% favorability before launch. Smaller tornado warnings in the area earlier in the week were some cause for concern. Despite this, mission control continued the countdown.

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley posing for a photo. // Source: NASA/SpaceX

A few hours before launch, the two astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, arrived at the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in their separate NASA Tesla Model X SUVs. At roughly T-42 minutes, the crew access arm retracted, leaving the two alone with mission control. Finally, launch was verified at T-45 seconds with a “go” from the SpaceX launch director, and DM-2 officially took off with a thunderous roar at T-0.

Tension had mounted as the spacecraft began its ascent towards orbit. At just T+58 seconds, the rocket reached the peak mechanical stress that it would face in the whole mission (this is called Max Q), and the first and second stages separated at T+2:33 minutes. As the second stage continued to boost Crew Dragon into orbit, the first stage landed on a drone ship off of the Florida coast at T+9:22. Finally, Crew Dragon successfully separated from stage two at 12 minutes from launch.

As a result of this mission, and the whole commercial crew program, NASA will likely never need to rely on foreign countries for access to space. Additionally, such a partnership between SpaceX and NASA will result in drastically less spending on a per-mission basis. As reported by the Office of Inspector General, NASA will save an average of $31 million for each astronaut through future missions with Crew Dragon.

DM-2 lifts off at Kennedy Space Center. // Source: SpaceX livestream Source: NASA

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Harry Stoltz

Harry Stoltz is an aspiring organic chemist, and a volunteer student researcher at the California Institute of Technology. He is fascinated by cutting edge technology and a clean future. Harry writes about clean energy, self-driving cars, and battery tech. You can find Harry on Twitter @harrystoltz1.

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