One Small Step, One Giant Leap
This weekend, for the first time in 11 years since the National Aeronautics and Space Association retired the space shuttle fleet, a rocket will attempt to launch from the U.S. soil of Cape Canaveral, Florida this Saturday afternoon carrying two astronauts into orbit and delivering them safely to the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, climb aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon 2 carried by a Falcon 9 rocket, marking this the first time in history a private spacecraft has carried astronauts into orbit! Not to mention the first time a private space exploration and tech company will be working alongside a federal counterpart, you can even spot NASA sporting some new custom model X Teslas.
You can catch LIVE coverage of the event this Saturday at 11:00 AM ET on NASA Live, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter or any other media outlet via live stream courtesy of NASA official, join me this Saturday afternoon May 30th and millions of other proud Americans as the nation takes one step for man towards more giant leaps for mankind!
A Cosmic Collaboration
Administrator Jim Bridenstine of NASA and Elon Musk of SpaceX have teamed up to collaborate on making the “Crew Dragon demo-2” mission, or more easily known by the hashtag title “LaunchAmerica”, an ideal and achievable reality that paves the path to an increasingly more advanced multi-planetary future for generations to come!
The SpaceX mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program which will send the “Crew Dragon 2” capsule, predecessor to “Crew Dragon 1”, to the International Space Station and it will be a test of NASA’s partnership with the US aerospace industry for the first time. James Frederick “Jim” Bridenstine was nominated by President Donald Trump, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and sworn in as NASA’s 13th administrator on April 23, 2018. Bridenstine was elected in 2012 to represent Oklahoma’s First Congressional District.
In Congress, he served on the Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Bridenstine’s career in federal service began in the U.S. Navy, flying the E-2C Hawkeye off the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. He flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and accrued most of his 1,900 flight hours and 333 carrier-arrested landings.
Elon Musk co-founded and leads Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company. As the co-founder and CEO of Tesla, Elon leads all product design, engineering, and global manufacturing of the company’s electric vehicles, battery products, and solar energy products.
As lead designer at SpaceX, Elon oversees the development of rockets and spacecraft for missions to Earth orbit and ultimately to other planets. In 2008, the SpaceX Falcon 1 was the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit, and SpaceX made further history in 2017 by re-flying both a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft for the first time.
Soon after, Falcon Heavy, the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two, completed its first flight in 2018. In 2019, SpaceX’s crew-capable version of the Dragon spacecraft completed its first demonstration mission, and the company will fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time in 2020, today. Building on these achievements, SpaceX is developing Starship – a fully reusable transportation system that will carry crew and cargo to the Moon, Mars and beyond – and Starlink, which can be visibly seen in the night sky with the naked eye, will deliver high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.
By pioneering reusable rockets, SpaceX is pursuing the long-term goal of making humans a multi-planet species by creating a self-sustaining city on Mars.
Proud and Patriotic Passengers
Robert L. Behnken, one of today’s voyagers, was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2000 and is a veteran of two space shuttle flights.
The other voyager, Dough Hurley, Douglas G. Hurley was selected as an astronaut in 2000. A veteran of two spaceflights, he was the pilot on STS‐127 and STS‐135. Hurley holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Tulane University. Before joining NASA, he was a fighter pilot and test pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Hurley and Behnken are married to fellow members of their 2000 astronaut class at NASA: newly retired Karen Nyberg and Megan McArthur. Each couple has one child, boys 10 and 6 years old. Being married to an astronaut, both men acknowledged, has made it easier in the unexpectedly long run-up to their SpaceX flight.
P.O.T.U.S. Revving for Re-launch
President Trump arrived on the scene at about 1:30PM ET last Wednesday May 28th, the original launch date, to witness the show in person accompanied by his wife Ivanka Trump and vice president Joe Biden as well as other officials.
As these events were still developing and documented in real-time during the original date of launch, weather conditions began to change suddenly at about T-minus 00:33:00, 3:00 PM ET, from launch as dark clouds and rain roll into view… resulting in an ionized atmosphere full of charged particles, too dangerous for Bob and Doug to brave!
NASA had officially announced that the Demo-2 launch had been SCRUBBED due to hazardous circumstances, with the safety of astronauts Bob and Doug in mind, and rightfully so! The President is expected to return to the launch site for the second attempt at launching, the historical space flight has been delayed and rescheduled for Saturday, May 30th to try again, hopefully under better skies! Passengers Bob and Doug will sit patiently aboard the Dragon capsule atop Falcon 9 at 184 feet above the ground, counting down the clock with us LIVE viewers until T-minus 0:00:00, liftoff!
The crew is even sporting a new look, different than previous spacesuits, and a lot less bulky! In fact, they look very sleek, and as if they were pulled straight from an epic sci-fi, space fashion maybe just on the horizon if they continue in this direction! I can surely say that I am a fan of this new improved and innovative look and definitely on board with it!
So, especially for those of you that missed the show or joined too late last Wednesday, tune in this Saturday at 11:00 AM ET for more LIVE stream coverage of the historical space flight scheduled for launch at 3:22 PM ET, this weekend!
Cannot wait to see history in the making!