I have an amazing flight and enjoy those
views of our beautiful planet on May
30th two NASA astronauts climbed inside
a space capsule and launched on top of a
rocket on route to the International
Space Station
that sounds routine but it's actually
monumental for two different reasons for
starters these are the first two
American astronauts to launch to orbit
from American soil in nearly a decade
and the vehicle they're riding in it was
commercially made by the company SpaceX
not NASA it's a culmination of NASA's
Commercial Crew program and the first
time a private company has ever launched
humans to orbit if the rest of this
mission goes well it could kickstart a
very different era of human spaceflight
inside and out the mission has a very
different look from human launches of
the past this is the crew Dragon SpaceX
is new crew capsule it's designed
specifically to launch on top of
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and ferry
people to and from low-earth orbit it's
actually a modification of the company's
dragon cargo capsule that's been taking
supplies to the ISS for the last decade
but this one is outfitted with new bells
and whistles life-support systems
sleek chairs shiny touchscreen displays
SpaceX is also designed custom pressure
suits they're meant to keep astronauts
protected from the harsh environment of
space if there's an emergency and
they're tailor-made for the needs of the
capsule those are actually touchscreen
gloves for the Dragons modern displays
finally the crew dragon sports a
sophisticated docking system that's
entirely automatic using a series of
sensors and cameras the vehicle can
approach the ISS all in its own and
latch on to a docking port
all three engines up and burning the
last time that Americans launched from
the US was on July 8 2011 when space
shuttle Atlantis took off from Florida
with a crew of four since that day nASA
has relied on Russia to get astronauts
to and from the International Space
Station it hasn't been the best
situation Russia charges the u.s. around
eighty million dollars a seat for a ride
on their Soyuz capsule and if the Soyuz
were to go out of commission there
really isn't a fallback the Commercial
Crew program frees NASA from their
reliance on Russia but it's also a new
model for spacecraft development the
idea is this rather than have the
government oversee the production of a
new craft why not get the private sector
to make the vehicles instead up until
now nASA has had exhaustive input and
vehicle design and it's been in charge
of production now the commercial
companies are in charge of both the
government purchases rides on those
vehicles a bit like buying a seat on a
plane it may sound a bit like the deal
with Russia but this time NASA is
supporting American business and
bringing human space flight back to US
soil which our government well of
launching American astronauts that
American rockets from American soil oh
and all the program was intended to
light a fire under the commercial
spaceflight industry NASA is a partial
investor in the crew Dragon and now that
it's complete
SpaceX can use the capsule to create a
new space tourism business the other
goal in true capitalist fashion was the
spark competition and lower costs for
NASA that's why the agency picked two
companies SpaceX and Boeing to develop
these vehicles it created an intense
rivalry between the two but SpaceX got
to the finish line first let's go for
launch let's light this candle
in preparation for the mission NASA
assigned SpaceX its first human
passengers astronauts Bob Behnken and
Doug Hurley they've been training in
simulators at SpaceX headquarters last
year the company did a dry run with the
crew dragon launching it to the space
station and docking without a crew on
board they also tested the capsules
aboard system designed to carry the
spacecraft to safety if something went
wrong during a launch but there have
been bumps in the road an explosion rips
apart SpaceX's crewed Dragon capsule in
2019 a crew Dragon capsule exploded
during a test on the ground and a couple
of SpaceX's Falcon nines have blown up
within the last few years - all in all
the mission came together a couple of
years later the NASA wanted it to
actually a couple years in a couple of
days
NASA missed their first launch window on
May 27th on account of weather I don't
think we're gonna get there with any of
the rules today but after all that the
launch did come together so what now
well first the astronauts need to finish
their mission Bob and Doug will dock
with the ISS and spend a number of weeks
onboard after that they'll climb back
into the crew dragon detached from the
station and make the perilous journey
back to earth a suite of parachutes will
lower them gently into the ocean where
they'll be retrieved by a SpaceX boat in
the long term it's possible that this
could become the norm for NASA the space
agency has standing contracts with both
SpaceX and Boeing for regular flights to
the space station and they're
considering the same contracting method
for a new crewed lunar lander once again
the companies would build the lander and
NASA would pay to hitch a ride
and finally this launch could bring the
dawn of space tourism that much closer
SpaceX has already promised to send
tourists to orbit on its crew dragon
next year there's even a rumor that
SpaceX will be sending Tom Cruise to the
space station for a movie but will there
be a steady stream of private customers
on crew dragon that question will be
answered in the
ahead yeah it is absolutely our honor to
be part of it
hey everyone we've been writing a ton
about this launch from home because of
the pandemic but if you want to read
more about it head over to the verge
comm we've got plenty to keep you
occupied