NASA and SpaceX press ahead with plans to launch astronauts to space from US soil later on this month, despite Covid-19 pandemic
In this file photo taken on October 10, 2019, employees of SpaceX work on the Crew Dragon reusable spacecraft after a press conference at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
Should the mission succeed, the US will have achieved its goal of no longer having to buy seats on Russian Soyuz rockets to give its astronauts rides to the International Space Station . NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters that the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule will be only the fifth class of US spacecraft to take humans into orbit, after the storied Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs.
Behnken and Hurley, who have been training for the "Demo-2" mission for years, will dock with the International Space Station and remain there for between one to four months, depending on when the next mission takes place, said NASA's Steve Stich.Hurley, who was the pilot on the last Space Shuttle mission, admitted it was "disappointing" that the launch won't be a public affair, with crowds discouraged from gathering at Cape Canaveral to witness the spectacle.
SpaceX, which has received billions of dollars from NASA since the late 2000s, has been supplying cargo to the ISS since 2012, and has established itself as the leader in the private space sector thanks to its reusable rocket, the Falcon 9. "We are ensuring that only essential personnel are near them. They're wearing masks and gloves. We're cleaning the training facility twice daily.
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