On Friday, NASA, the space agency of the United States, and SpaceX, the company of billionaire Elon Musk, launched a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew-2 mission will take four astronauts to the ISS, International Space Station. The Falcon 9 rocket took off at 6:50 am (GMT) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States.
The crew will reach its destination on Saturday, April 24.
The world’s first reusable orbital-class rocket
This is the first flight made with recycled equipment. It allowed SpaceX to reuse the most expensive parts of the rocket, which, in turn, reduces the cost of access to space. The Falcon 9 spacecraft is the same one used in the Crew-1 mission from November 2020. The capsule with the crew was already used in Demo-2, SpaceX’s first human-crewed mission, in May 2020.
Crew members include two NASA astronauts, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur; Akihiko Hoshide – a professional from Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet. They are expected to spend up to six months in orbit as part of Expedition 65.
Megan will be the first woman to fly the Crew Dragon. Astronauts will conduct research and maintenance missions.
NASA and SpaceX are already planning Crew-3, which is due to launch in late October. Astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Matthias Maurer will take part. The mission will have a 4th crew member, which has not yet been announced.
Nasa and SpaceX partnership
NASA announced on April 16 that it signed a contract with SpaceX for $2.89 billion to take astronauts to the Moon. The money will be used in the Starship prototype, a spacecraft being tested by Elon Musk’s company.
The crew is scheduled to arrive at the Gateway space station, which orbits about 250 miles above Earth, early Saturday after a nearly 24-hour flight. The Starship will then take 2 of these astronauts to the final part of the journey, to the surface of the Moon.
According to NASA, at least one of these astronauts will make history as the first woman on the Moon. Another goal of the Artemis program includes bringing the first non-white person to the lunar surface.
The idea is for astronauts to stay on the Moon for a week.
This is the first time in more than 20 years that a team from NASA, ESA, and JAXA will fly together.
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