SpaceX has just made history with what was perhaps one of the most pivotal rocket launches in U.S. space travel. In the early hours of Saturday morning, the private rocket company fired up its Falcon 9 workhorse to launch its new-generation astronaut pod into orbit, NASA proudly announced in a news release.
Famously known as the Crew Dragon, this is the first commercial-built spacecraft designed to shuttle astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). At the same time, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is the first U.S.-built pod intended for human travel to launch from American soil since NASA retired its Space Shuttle Program in 2011.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, today’s launch served as the first test-flight of the Crew Dragon capsule. Dubbed the Demo-1 mission, or DM-1, the launch sent the astronaut pod on its inaugural spaceflight in order to demonstrate the capabilities of its systems. Since this was the first-ever test of the Crew Dragon, the capsule soared to the skies unmanned in a bid to test out its endurance and safety protocols before being boarded by astronauts for its second spaceflight, Demo-2.
The spacecraft and its rocket carrier blasted off from the historic Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the same launch pad that saw NASA’s space shuttles take off to the ISS and the mighty Saturn V rocket ferry astronauts to the moon during the Apollo missions.
Packed with its precious cargo, the Falcon 9 lifted off at 2:49 a.m. EST amid the cheers of a sizeable crowd gathered to watch the Crew Dragon take off on its maiden voyage. The SpaceX rocket and capsule blasted off into space in a ball of fire and smoke, taking to the skies with a brilliant flash of light.
LIFTOFF! The next big leap in a new chapter of U.S. human spaceflight systems has left the pad. @SpaceX’s #CrewDragon demo flight will be the 1st commercially-built & operated American spacecraft designed for humans to dock at the @Space_Station. Watch: https://t.co/Fm5NQSfAXJ pic.twitter.com/YoiOf67kQL
— NASA (@NASA) March 2, 2019
After hitching a ride on the Falcon 9, the Crew Dragon capsule separated from its rocket about 11 minutes into the spaceflight. While the rocket’s second stage continued to propel the pod into its orbit to meet up with the ISS, the first stage returned to Earth.
As expected, the experienced SpaceX stuck the landing, with the Falcon 9 booster flawlessly touching down on the company’s “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. After today, the private space company now boasts 53 successful landings of its rocket boosters.
Falcon 9 booster has landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship—SpaceX’s 35th successful landing of a rocket booster pic.twitter.com/cDvKpoOwrq
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 2, 2019
While the Falcon 9 first stage has completed its mission, the Crew Dragon is still pressing on to reach its destination. The spacecraft is expected to arrive at the ISS tomorrow morning and will dock with the space station’s Harmony module at about 6 a.m. EST.
“Crew Dragon will carry out a series of phasing maneuvers as it pursues the space station during approach,” stated NASA officials.
The spacecraft is slated to remain at the ISS for a period of five days and will head back home in the early hours of Friday morning, undocking with the space station at approximately 2:30 a.m. EST. After a six-hour spaceflight, the Crew Dragon will parachute down to Earth, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean sometime around 8:45 a.m. EST.
While the capsule was, in fact, unmanned, the Crew Dragon didn’t fly its first mission alone. The astronaut pod was occupied by an “anthropomorphic test dummy” (ATD) called Ripley and his trusted companion, a plushie Earth-shaped ball described by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as a “super high tech zero-g indicator.”
Super high tech zero-g indicator added just before launch! pic.twitter.com/CRO26plaXq
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2019
Clad in the garb of an astronaut, Ripley boasted the title of “first passenger” of the Crew Dragon. The ATD was covered in sensors designed to measure the environment and the responses on the human body, in order to glean precious data for subsequent manned spaceflights.
While Ripley was busy gathering data for the safety of future astronauts bound to ride the Dragon into space, his companion did a bang-up job at demonstrating zero gravity. A short post-launch clip shared to Twitter by Elon Musk showed the plushie gracefully floating inside the Crew Dragon capsule.
Earth floats gently in zero gravity pic.twitter.com/XUH3KeDPVe
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2019
As Ripley made its way into space aboard the Crew Dragon, his astronaut “colleagues” slated to fly the next mission – NASA’s Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley – watched the momentous launch from Firing Room Four in the Launch Control Center at the Kennedy space facility.
Photos from the launch posted by NASA on its Flickr account showed Behnken and Hurley passionately watching the launch of DM-1. The astronauts were later photographed having a friendly chat with Musk, the Crew Dragon chief designer, after the blast-off.
The two astronauts are slated to fly the Dragon to the ISS during the capsule’s first manned test flight, Demo-2 or DM-2, which is currently targeted for July. By doing so, Behnken and Hurley will become the first American astronauts to launch into space from U.S. soil since 2011.
According to NASA officials, today’s launch “marks a significant step toward returning to the nation the capability to launch astronauts on a U.S.-built spacecraft from U.S. soil.” In the past eight years, the space agency has had to rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to taxi its astronauts to work on board the ISS.
“What today really represents is a new era in spaceflight,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said after the launch. “We’re looking forward to being one of many customers in a robust commercial marketplace in low-Earth orbit.”
Earlier today, Bridenstine took to Twitter to congratulate the SpaceX and NASA teams for the success of this first-of-its-kind mission.
Today’s successful launch marks a new chapter in American excellence, getting us closer to once again flying American Astronauts on American rockets from American soil. Congratulations to the @SpaceX and @NASA teams for this major milestone in our nation’s history. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/Gk8c9EdXNO
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) March 2, 2019
Meanwhile, Musk also chimed in on the auspicious first launch of the Crew Dragon.
“We’re only partway through the mission, but the system thus far has passed an exhaustive set of reviews, and the launch itself. The launch went as expected and, so far, everything is nominal.”
Today’s event was live streamed on a number of online platforms, including NASA Live, NASA TV, and the SpaceX YouTube channel. In case you missed the broadcast or you simply wish to watch it again, you can do so at the link below.