NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken boarded the commercial spacecraft known as Crew Dragon 2 at historic launch pad 39-A. As the countdown ticked toward zero, the launch team ran a smooth count and weather was go.
Dodging the threat of weather around Cape Canaveral, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared to life and lifted-off on time at 3:22:45 p.m. EDT. Minutes later, the core stage's nine engines shutdown as scheduled and the booster separated.
Dodging the threat of weather around Cape Canaveral, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared to life and lifted-off on time at 3:22:45 p.m. EDT. Minutes later, the core stage's nine engines shutdown as scheduled and the booster separated.
"This is a dream come true for me and everyone at SpaceX,” Elon Musk, SpaceX chief engineer, said following the launch. "You can look at this as the results of a hundred thousand people roughly when you add up all the suppliers and everyone working incredibly hard to make this day happen.”
Saturday's launch was the first crewed launched from the United States in nine years.
“Today a new era in human spaceflight begins as we once again launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil on their way to the International Space Station, our national lab orbiting Earth,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said following orbit insertion. “I thank and congratulate Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley, and the SpaceX and NASA teams for this significant achievement for the United States.
The Crew Dragon, christened Endeavour by her crew, is scheduled to dock with the space station on Sunday morning.
(Charles A. Atkeison reports on aerospace and technology. Follow his updates via social media @AbsolutSpaceGuy.)
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