SpaceX and NASA postpone historic astronaut launch due to weather.
Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will be lifting off on a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:33 p.m. EDT on May 27 from Cape Canaveral on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, marking the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years.
Both men were selected as astronauts in 2000 and have two spaceflights apiece under their belt. The long-time friends were among the first astronauts to begin working and training on SpaceX’s next-generation human space vehicle. It’s the first crewed flight from U.S. soil into orbit since 2011, as well as the first time a private company will send astronauts into orbit.
Within ~12 minutes of takeoff the Crew Dragon will be cruising in orbit. From there, it’ll journey 19 hours to the International Space Station, where Hurley and Behnken will share some interesting Earth stories with their new roomies, NASA’s Chris Cassidy and Russia’s Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. The specific duration of the mission is to be determined, but when the Crew Dragon does return, it’ll splash down off Florida’s coast and a SpaceX vessel will retrieve it.
A mission with a history
This public-private partnership goes back to the Obama administration.
With growing competition for space dominance from China and Russia and a new military branch, the Space Force, public investment in the U.S. space industry is expected to increase.
A successful mission would achieve NASA’s top priority, as articulated by agency chief Jim Bridenstine, of resuming launches of “American astronauts on American rockets from American soil.”
For more briefing on the mission, click here.
