- Saturday’s SpaceX launch made history by launching astronauts from US soil for the first time since the Space Shuttle era that ended almost a decade ago.
- The launch was also a milestone moment in history for being the first time this has happened after being facilitated by a private company — in this case, SpaceX, working in partnership with NASA.
- This is the last step for SpaceX before Crew Dragon is certified for use by NASA.
To me, one of the most inspiring things about Saturday’s SpaceX launch of the first American astronauts from US soil in almost a decade — and the first time in history that a private company has facilitated this — was how it captivated people around the country and the world, at a time when people are pretty desperate for some good news. At one point Saturday afternoon, I noticed that more than 3 million people were tuned in to the SpaceX live stream via YouTube, watching in awe as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket prepared to carry a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule skyward.
The spacecraft, as my colleague Mike Wehner previously noted, lifted off Saturday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida bound for the International Space Station, where it will deliver NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley. The duo will remain on the space station for somewhere between a few weeks and a few months, depending on what NASA decides after they arrive.
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The best photos and reactions from this historic day for SpaceX and NASA originally appeared on BGR.com on Sat, 30 May 2020 at 18:17:13 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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