- [NASA Control] Have an amazing flight,
and enjoy those views
of our beautiful planet.
- [Loren] On May 30th,
two NASA astronauts climbed
inside a space capsule
and launched on top of a rocket,
en route to the
International Space Station.
- [Woman] Liftoff, as the Falcon 9-
- That sounds routine,
but it's actually monumental
for two different reasons.
- On our climb.
- For starters,
these are the first
two American astronauts
to launch to orbit from American soil
in nearly a decade.
And the vehicle they're riding in,
it was commercially made by
the company SpaceX, not NASA.
It's a culmination of NASA's
Commercial Crew Program,
and the first time a private company
has ever launched humans to orbit.
If the rest of this mission goes well,
it could kickstart a very different era
of human space flight.
(mellow galactic music)
Inside and out,
the mission has a very different look
from human launches of the past.
This is the Crew Dragon,
SpaceX's new crew capsule.
It's designed specifically to launch
on top of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket
and ferry people to and
from low-Earth orbit.
It's actually a modification
of the company's Dragon Cargo Capsule.
That's been taking supplies to
the ISS for the last decade.
But this one's outfitted
with new bells and whistles,
life support systems, sleek chairs,
shiny touchscreen displays.
SpaceX has also designed
custom pressure suits.
They're meant to keep astronauts protected
from the harsh environment of
space if there's an emergency,
and they're tailor-made for
the needs of the capsule.
Those are actually touchscreen gloves
for the Dragon's modern displays.
Finally, the Crew Dragon sports
a sophisticated docking system
that's entirely automatic.
Using a series of sensors and cameras,
the vehicle can approach
the ISS all on its own
and latch onto a docking port.
(rockets blaring)
- All three engines
up and burning.
- [Loren] The last time that
Americans launched from the US
was on July 8th, 2011,
when Space Shuttle Atlantis
took off from Florida
with a crew of four.
- [Man] Roger roll, Atlantis.
- Since that day, NASA
has relied on Russia
to get astronauts to and from
the International Space Station.
It hasn't been the best situation.
Russia charges the US
around $80 million a seat
for a ride on their Soyuz capsule.
And if the Soyuz were
to go out of commission,
there really isn't a fallback.
The Commercial Crew Program frees NASA
from their reliance on Russia,
but it's also a new model
for spacecraft development.
The idea is this:
Rather than have the government
oversee the production of a new craft,
why not get the private sector
to make the vehicles instead?
Up until now, NASA has
had exhaustive input
in vehicle design,
and it's been in charge of production.
Now the commercial companies
are in charge of both.
The government purchases
rides on those vehicles
a bit like buying a seat on a plane.
It may sound a bit like
the deal with Russia,
but this time NASA is
supporting American business
and bringing human space
flight back to US soil,
which our government loves.
- Of launching American astronauts
on American rockets from American soil.
(crowd cheers)
- All in all, the program was intended
to light a fire under the
commercial space flight industry.
NASA is a partial investor
in the Crew Dragon.
And now that it's complete,
SpaceX can use the capsule
to create a new space tourism business.
The other goal, in true
capitalist fashion,
was to spark competition
and lower costs for NASA.
That's why the agency
picked two companies,
SpaceX and Boeing,
to develop these vehicles.
It created an intense
rivalry between the two,
but SpaceX got to the finish line first.
- [Behnken] We're go for
launch, let's light this candle.
- [Loren] In preparation for the mission,
NASA assigned SpaceX its
first human passengers,
astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.
They've been training in simulators
at SpaceX Headquarters.
Last year the company did a
dry run with the Crew Dragon,
launching it to the space station
and docking without a crew on board.
They also tested the
capsule's abort system,
designed to carry the spacecraft to safety
if something went wrong during a launch.
But there have been bumps in the road.
(air whooshing)
- An explosion rips apart
SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule.
- In 2019, a Crew Dragon capsule exploded
during a test on the ground,
and couple of SpaceX's Falcon 9s
have blown up within
the last few years, too.
All in all, the mission came together
a couple years later
than NASA wanted it to,
actually, a couple years
and a couple of days.
NASA missed their first
launch window on May 27th
on account of weather.
- [Man] I don't think
we're gonna get there
with any of the rules today.
- But after all that, the
launch did come together.
So what now?
Well first, the astronauts
need to finish their mission.
Bob and Doug will dock with the ISS
and spend a number of weeks on board.
After that, they'll climb
back into the Crew Dragon,
detach from the station,
and make the perilous
journey back to Earth.
A suite of parachutes
will lower them gently
into the ocean,
where they'll be retrieved
by a SpaceX boat.
In the long term,
it's possible that this could
become the norm for NASA.
This space agency has standing contracts
with both SpaceX and Boeing
for regular flights to the space station,
and they're considering
the same contracting method
for a new crude lunar lander.
Once again, the companies
would build the lander,
and NASA would pay to hitch a ride.
And finally, this launch
could bring the dawn
of space tourism that much closer.
SpaceX has already promised
to send tourists to orbit
on its Crew Dragon next year.
There's even a rumor
that SpaceX will be sending Tom Cruise
to the space station for a movie.
But will there be a steady stream
of private customers on Crew Dragon?
That question will be
answered in the years ahead.
- [Hurley] Yeah, it is
absolutely our honor
to be part of this.
- Hey everyone, we've been writing
a ton about this launch from home
because of the pandemic,
but if you wanna read more about it,
head over to TheVerge.com.
We've got plenty to keep you occupied.
