One Week from Today -- NASA and SpaceX Plan a Triumphant Return of US-based Human Spaceflight

Posted by Guy Pirro | 05/21/2020 04:48PM | 0 Comments

A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. SpaceX and NASA are targeting May 27, 2020 for Falcon 9’s launch of Crew Dragon’s second demonstration mission (Demo-2) from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be the first two NASA astronauts to fly aboard the Dragon spacecraft to and from the International Space Station (ISS). As the final flight test for SpaceX, this mission will validate the company’s crew transportation system, including the launch pad, rocket, spacecraft, and operational capabilities. This also will be the first time NASA astronauts will test the spacecraft systems in orbit.