CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on Sunday
on the first full-fledged taxi flight for NASA by a private company.
The Falcon rocket thundered into the night from Kennedy Space Center with three Americans and one
Japanese, the second crew to be launched by SpaceX. The Dragon capsule on top — named Resilience by its
crew in light of this year’s many challenges, most notably COVID-19 — reached orbit nine minutes later.
It is due to reach the space station late Monday and remain there until spring.
"By working together through these difficult times, you’ve inspired the nation, the world, and in no
small part the name of this incredible vehicle, Resilience," Commander Mike Hopkins said right
before liftoff.
Once reaching orbit, he radioed: "That was one heck of a ride."
Sidelined by the coronavirus himself, SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk was forced to monitor
the action from afar. He tweeted that he "most likely" had a moderate case of COVID-19. NASA
policy at Kennedy Space Center requires anyone testing positive for coronavirus to quarantine and remain
isolated.
Sunday’s launch follows by just a few months SpaceX’s two-pilot test flight. It kicks off what NASA hopes
will be a long series of crew rotations between the U.S. and the space station, after years of delay.
More people means more science research at the orbiting lab, according to officials.
Cheers and applause erupted at SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, after the capsule reached
orbit and the first-stage booster landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic. Musk tweeted a single
red heart.
The flight to the space station — 27 1/2 hours door to door — should be entirely automated, although the
crew can take control if needed. SpaceX had to deal with pressure pump spikes once the capsule reached
orbit, but resolved the issue.
With COVID-19 still surging, NASA continued the safety precautions put in place for SpaceX’s crew launch
in May. The astronauts went into quarantine with their families in October. All launch personnel wore
masks, and the number of guests at Kennedy was limited. Even the two astronauts on the first SpaceX crew
flight stayed behind at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Vice President Mike Pence, chairman of the National Space Council, traveled from Washington and joined
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine to watch the launch.
"I didn’t start breathing until about a minute after it took off," Pence said during a stop at
SpaceX Launch Control to congratulate the workers.
Outside the space center gates, spectators crowded into nearby beaches and towns.
NASA worried a weekend liftoff — coupled with a dramatic nighttime launch — could lead to a superspreader
event. They urged the crowds to wear masks and maintain safe distances. Similar pleas for SpaceX’s first
crew launch on May 30 went unheeded.
The three-men, one-woman crew led by Hopkins, an Air Force colonel, named their capsule Resilience in a
nod not only to the pandemic, but also racial injustice and contentious politics. It’s about as diverse
as space crews come, including physicist Shannon Walker, Navy Cmdr. Victor Glover, the first Black
astronaut on a long-term space station mission, and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi, who became the first person
in almost 40 years to launch on three types of spacecraft.
They rode out to the launch pad in Teslas — another Musk company — after exchanging high-fives and hand
embraces with their children and spouses, who huddled at the open car windows. Musk was replaced by
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell in bidding the astronauts farewell.
Besides its sleek design and high-tech features, the Dragon capsule is quite spacious — it can carry up
to seven people. Previous space capsules have launched with no more than three. The extra room in the
capsule was used for science experiments and supplies.
The four astronauts will be joining two Russians and one American who flew to the space station last
month from Kazakhstan. The space station soared over the launch site a mere half-minute before liftoff.
The first-stage booster is expected to be recycled by SpaceX for the next crew launch. That’s currently
targeted for the end of March, which would set up the newly launched astronauts for a return to Earth in
April. SpaceX would launch yet another crew in late summer or early fall.
SpaceX and NASA wanted the booster recovered so badly that they delayed the launch attempt by a day, to
give the floating platform time to reach its position in the Atlantic over the weekend following rough
seas.
Boeing, NASA’s other contracted crew transporter, is trailing by a year. A repeat of last December’s
software-plagued test flight without a crew is off until sometime early next year, with the first
astronaut flight of the Starliner capsule not expected before summer.
NASA turned to private companies to haul cargo and crew to the space station, after the shuttle fleet
retired in 2011. SpaceX qualified for both. With Kennedy back in astronaut-launching action, NASA can
stop buying seats on Russian Soyuz rockets. The last one cost $90 million.
The commander of SpaceX’s first crew, Doug Hurley, noted it’s not just about saving money or easing the
training burdens for crews.
"Bottom line: I think it’s just better for us to be flying from the United States if we can do
that," he told The Associated Press last week.
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