Historic Event: SpaceX Successfully Launched the Crew Dragon to the ISS

On May 30, 2020, a historic event took place for the entire world: the private American company SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, launched the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station with two NASA astronauts on board.

This marked a turning point for the United States in space exploration, as well as an important milestone in the development of commercial spaceflight. For America, this was the first crewed launch in nearly 10 years—since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.

Moreover, the United States can now send its astronauts to the ISS without relying on Russian Soyuz spacecraft (according to media sources, NASA paid around $81 million per astronaut for a Soyuz seat. Reportedly, a seat on Crew Dragon will cost about $55 million).

The launch of Crew Dragon took place as part of the Demo-2 mission under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. This was a test flight before the full-scale Crew Dragon mission, which is planned to deliver three NASA astronauts and one Japanese astronaut to the ISS.

The initial launch was scheduled for May 27, but was canceled 16 minutes before liftoff due to bad weather conditions.

On May 30, Crew Dragon, with astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken aboard, launched from launch pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida (at 10:22 PM Kyiv time).

The Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivered Crew Dragon into orbit, and the first stage of the rocket returned to Earth, landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean. A day later, on May 31, the spacecraft docked with the ISS.

53-year-old Douglas Hurley and 49-year-old Robert Behnken will spend about three months on the ISS (between 30 and 119 days). They joined NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, who have been on the orbit since April. After completing their mission aboard the ISS, Hurley and Behnken will return to Earth along with cargo.

In the future, SpaceX plans to use Crew Dragon not only to transport crews to the ISS but also for space tourism. Crew Dragon can carry up to seven crew members, or four people with cargo.

Photos and videos – twitter.com/SpaceX