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10 Things To Know About SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Launch Into Orbit
The recent launch of the Crew Dragon into orbit is historic for several reasons.
For instance, for the first time in history, NASA astronauts were launched to a space-station in a commercial spacecraft. The launch was a collaboration between NASA and a private company, SpaceX, another first.
Below are 10 things about the historic launch of the Crew Dragon into space.
10 Things to Know About SpaceX’s Crew Dragon launch Into Orbit
- On Saturday, May 30 2020, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched Crew Dragon into orbit. The launch took place at exactly at 3:22 p.m. EDT.
- Crew Dragon is a human-rated capsule capable of ferrying up to seven astronauts. It is in a class of reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer, SpaceX.
- The test flight is the first space launch from the United States since NASA grounded its space shuttle fleet in 2011.
- Two NASA astronauts; Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley piloted the Crew Dragon.
- This mission will be SpaceX first crewed mission.
- SpaceX, a company owned by Elon Musk, owns the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
- This is the second demonstration (Demo-2) mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- Demo-2 space mission was the final major test for SpaceX’s human spaceflight system to be certified by NASA for operational crew missions to and from the International Space Station.
- The two astronauts on this first SpaceX mission were conveyed to the location of the launchpad in a Tesla Model X.
- Once in orbit, the crew and SpaceX mission control will verify if the spacecraft is performing as intended by testing the environmental control and life support systems, the manoeuvring thrusters, and thermal control systems, among other things.
