A DOCK TO REMEMBER
SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft approaches the space station for docking in this artist’s concept. On May 31, 2020, the real Crew Dragon, carrying two NASA astronauts, successfully carried out the depicted docking maneuver. NASA/SPACEX
Private spaceflight company SpaceX made history on May 30, when its Crew Dragon capsule safely reached orbit with two NASA astronauts aboard. The next day, Crew Dragon went on to successfully dock with the International Space Station (ISS). The historic mission marks the first time NASA astronauts have blasted off from U.S. soil since the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011. Appropriately, that final flight of space shuttle Atlantis was piloted by astronaut Doug Hurley, who commanded May’s Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission. He was accompanied by fellow astronaut Robert Behnken.
LAUNCH AMERICA
For nearly a decade, NASA has had to buy its astronauts seats on Russians Soyuz spacecraft to reach the ISS, which was built with some $200 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars, according to some estimates. To celebrate the return of crewed launches from U.S. soil, the space agency branded May’s historic event “Launch America.” “This is a unique opportunity to bring all of America together in one moment in time and say: ‘Look at how bright the future is.’ That’s what this launch is all about,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a press briefing before the launch.
As Crew Dragon blasted off, roughly 10 million people watched live — both online and on TV; the event was carried by all the major news networks. Back
in 2019, over 100,000 people traveled to Cape Canaveral in Florida for Crew Dragon’s uncrewed demonstration flight. But the crowds at the Kennedy Space Center were significantly smaller this time around, primarily due to the social distancing restrictions in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nonetheless, a palpable silence, followed by raucous cheers, rang out at Launchpad 39A as the astronauts climbed to the heavens aboard Crew Dragon. This same launch site has been used to vault space shuttle flights into orbit, as well as send Apollo astronauts to the Moon.
As Crew Dragon entered low Earth orbit, the rocket boosters from its Falcon 9 launch vehicle descended back to Earth, landing safely on SpaceX’s drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. This allowed them to be retrieved for use in future missions. Such reusability has proven to be the key feature that makes SpaceX’s technology cheaper than anything that has come before it. And with “cheap” flights to space now available, many think NASA is in a prime position to reestablish its dominant role in space.
“We’re bringing America back, as it relates to human spaceflight,” Bridenstine said at a joint press conference with President Donald Trump. “There was a day when there was grass growing out of the runways [at Kennedy Space Center]. But now, we not only have the policy directive from the administration, we also have the budgets to match that policy directive to put America preeminent in space.”
DAWN OF SPACE TOURISM
Crew Dragon autonomously docked with the ISS on May 31 at 10:16 A.M. EDT. And at the time of this writing, the crew is aboard the orbiting research laboratory, carrying out experiments. It’s not yet clear exactly how long Behnken and Hurley will remain on board before returning to Earth, but they’re expected to stay until sometime in late summer or early fall. No matter when they come back, the return trip will serve as yet another pivotal test for Crew Dragon. The capsule must survive being superheated by Earth’s atmosphere before it uses a collection of parachutes to further slow down and gently land in the Atlantic Ocean, just off Florida’s east coast.
If the mission ends successfully, it will complete SpaceX’s validation to fly crewed missions to orbit — which would be yet another first for the private company. It should also allow them to start flying tourists into orbit in the not-too-distant future.
The company currently has two available Crew Dragon capsules it can use to ferry NASA astronauts to the ISS, as well as a number of Cargo Dragon capsules for sending supplies. But in addition to its NASA contracts, SpaceX already has been in talks with space tourism companies about bringing tourists to orbit. Each Crew Dragon ship is designed to hold four NASA astronauts or seven tourists, so humanity’s presence in space should increase in the years ahead.
Actor Tom Cruise could be among the first non-astronauts to take one of those seats. SpaceX and NASA are reportedly in talks with the star about filming an upcoming movie in space. So stay tuned, because the next few years of human spaceflight are sure to have many more surprising twists. — ERIC BETZ
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