SpaceX and NASA successfully launch spacecraft designed for people
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| SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifting off - @The New York Times |
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted off on March 2nd, 2019 at 2:49 a.m. ET Saturday, carrying the Dragon spacecraft - which is designed to deliver both cargo and people to orbiting destinations.
Through the Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX's collaboration with NASA, Dragon became the first American spacecraft in history to autonomously dock with the International Space Station.
For the past eight years, NASA has been relying on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to get its astronauts to and from the ISS since its own space shuttle was retired in 2011. Instead of constructing and operating its own replacement for space shuttles, NASA decided to outsource to private companies to provide that service. In 2014, the NASA awarded two contracts: to Boeing and SpaceX.
The spacecraft successfully docked on Sunday, leaving the three astronauts on-board the Space Station unharmed. It is scheduled to disembark and fly back to Earth after five days, where it would fall through the atmosphere, a big test for the spacecraft’s heat shield and parachute system. If everything goes according to plan, Dragon would splash down in the Atlantic Ocean on March 8.
The next step in SpaceX's plans is to fly its first mission with astronauts by July of this year. This is a huge leap towards the company's objective, which is to send people to space and eventually Mars, and its ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.
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| The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as viewed from Vero Beach, FL. @TheWashingtonPost |
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