SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule is set to reach a historic milestone next month, following a comprehensive period of test launches to ensure that the technology was both safe and functional. On May 27, a Crew Dragon capsule will send two of NASA’s astronauts into space and dock with the International Space Station. It’s a huge step forward for NASA’s relationship with SpaceX; it’s also, as NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine notes, the first time a crewed NASA mission will launch from an American facility since 2011.
BREAKING: On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil! With our @SpaceX partners, @Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken will launch to the @Space_Station on the #CrewDragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Let's #LaunchAmerica 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/RINb3mfRWI
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) April 17, 2020
Writing at Quartz, reporter Tim Fernholz has more on the mission’s details:
On launch day, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are expected to lift off at 4:32 pm ET. They’ll leave from the same launch pad as the Apollo missions. After reaching orbit, they will spend about 24 hours testing the Dragon’s various sensors, communications systems, and thrusters before docking with the ISS.
Both astronauts will be quarantined for 14 days before the mission, due to the omnipresent concerns over COVID-19.
Quartz’s report also notes that — assuming this mission goes according to plan — a second Crew Dragon capsule will travel to the ISS later this year, this one with a crew of 4. (3 from the United States, 1 from Japan.) May’s launch will take place from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida — the same facility utilized by Apollo missions, space shuttle missions and Skylab. SpaceX has made use of the facility since 2014. It’s a storied facility with more history yet to written.
Subscribe here for our free daily newsletter.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
