It's Official: SpaceX Will Carry Its First Humans to The Space Station Next Month

A SpaceX rocket will send two American astronauts to the International Space Station on May 27, NASA announced on Friday, the first crewed spaceflight from the US in nearly a decade.

"On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil!" Jim Bridenstine, head of NASA, said in a tweet.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will lift off @ 16:32 local time (20:32 UTC) on May 27 from historic launch pad 39A.

It will take approximately 24 hours after liftoff for them to dock with the ISS. The length of their stay aboard the ISS has not been determined. Behnken and Hurley have been training for years for the mission.

It's Official: SpaceX Will Carry Its First Humans to The Space Station Next Month

I hope that this article finds itself in its proper placement.

Personally, I think it's wonderful that NASA/SpaceX will be sending U.S. astronauts to the ISS, off of U.S. soil once again after 9 years of depending on Russia. It'll be a boost of moral for some people whilst other's will think otherwise. Im also assuming that major news networks will not be showing it Live, and if they do, there'll probably be a 5 - 10 second delay. Even though, I'm pretty confident SpaceX can get em up there safe & sound(although, its probably deafening inside the cabin during lift-off(?)).

I definitely have more trust in SpaceX to do it, rather than Boeing, given the two were in competence.

a reply to: LtFluffyCakes96

It will go boom.

a reply to: solve

SpaceX hasn't lost one during launch in awhile now. All their accidents were on the pad or trying to land.

a reply to: LtFluffyCakes96
It might be delayed if the stay-at-home order is still in place.

a reply to: carewemust

You mean it could turn into a .....

stay in space order?

That would be hysterical and much needed comedic relief.

originally posted by: solve

It will go boom.

a reply to: LtFluffyCakes96

I do hope all goes well ! Anything we as a country can do so we do not have to rely on others is a good thing IMO.

If they were smart, they would plan an extended stay.

Mission Control: "Prepare for launch and re-entry..."

Crew: "Yeahhhhhh, about that...we took a vote and..."

😂

a reply to: Zaphod58

I am really looking forward to the launch! They have achieved great things and have reignited a space race imho.
I do think that maybe they should do another non manned flight. But SpaceX does have a very good record all things considered.
Wish I could be there to watch it but.....ya

Can't wait to see the footage, I wonder if the passengers are allowed to record it all on their cell phones? More importantly I HOPE a flat earther is going! 🙄

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: solve

SpaceX hasn't lost one during launch in awhile now. All their accidents were on the pad or trying to land.

Guess we shall see soon enough.

Are we really ready ? I question the wisdom of this at this time . Space The finial frontier could end up being a weekend at bernie's .
Honstly I am Not quite as confident In space x yet as you are . So one question are you prepared for the possibility of failing and deaths ? Its not a question of IF it will happen But when . space is very very Unforgiving .

Me I KNOW they may do this and every thing will go well or they may do this and lose the ship and every one in it BUT i dread the FACT if it fails it will Delay space for another 20 years .

There si No room for failing this time that would delay tring again for a decade . So are we really ready ? PS i am ALL for space x

a reply to: midnightstar

Believe me, I hate to think this but im expecting some sort of malfunction to screw things up, hoping it doesn't though, and for that exact reason; "if it fails it will Delay space for another 20 years .".

a reply to: solve

That would be one big firework.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Not all, they lost one with an ISS cargo dragon(CRS-7). The dragon was intact until it hit the ocean, but its parachutes were not programmed to delpoy in a LOV situation, that has changed.

They have better safety parameters and fixed the issue that caused the explosion. If it happened with crew on board, the in-flight abort system would in theory pull the crew capsule away and safely have it parachute in the ocean.

a reply to: jrod

That's why I said it's been awhile since they lost one in flight. As of March of this year, the Falcon 9 family has 86 launches. Of those, there was one partial failure, where the payload was inserted into an orbit that was too low, one classified payload that may have failed, due to the adapter supplied by NG and not the rocket, and CRS-7 in 2015 was the only total failure for the Falcon 9.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I will be watching their live stream when they launch(i catch almost every launch) but probably wont make the trip up the coast for it. The last one I saw was a night launch of the Falcon Heavy on the beach in Cape Caneveral.

They were supposed to launch an Argentinean satellite at the end of March into a polar orbit, but it has been delayed because of the virus and Argentina cannot send their crew to the US due to travel restrictions.

I am super excited about this one as it will fly almost due south. It will also have it's sonic boom be felt/heard over land, from about the Sebastian area to Port St Lucie and as far west Lake Okeechobee(depending on atmospheric conditions). It will likely be the loudest near the Sebastian area so thats where I plan on viewing it. (A little off topic..)

This has been the longest gap in manned flights in the history of NASA, it was about 5.5 years between Apollo/Soyuz mission in 1975 and Columbia's maiden Flight in 1981.

I am very happy we are getting back to business and about to start putting people in space again. It is long over due!

Well, let's hope SpaceX has everything checked and alright.
Otherwise there will be more deaths, let's not hope so....

PS. Has someone some videos of the latest SpaceX test-launches?

a reply to: PatchQuartermain

Are you talking about Starship? If so, those weren't test launches, they were pressure tests. And that's a different program than Falcon.

Here comes covid19 to outer space... Article doesn't say what the astronauts will do when they're up there and does state they do not have a return planned.