SpaceX , billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company, on Saturday launched two Nat...
SpaceX, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company, on Saturday launched two National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronauts into orbit from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, AFP reported.
This marked the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from American soil in nine years and the first time in history that a private aerospace firm has carried humans into the Earth’s orbit.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with American astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley aboard, lifted off from the launchpad on schedule at 3.22 pm (around 12:52 am Indian Standard Time) for a 19-hour ride as the Crew Dragon capsule slowly maneuvers its way towards the International Space Station.
Minutes after the launch, the reusable first-stage booster rocket of the Falcon 9 separated cleanly and landed upright on a floating barge off the Atlantic coast. The second stage also separated smoothly, sending the capsule on its way to the space station.
“This is a dream come true for me and everyone at SpaceX,” Musk said. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence attended the historic launch.
“Past leaders put the US at the mercy of foreign nations to send our astronauts into orbit,” the president said. “Not...
