SpaceX Crew Dragon delivers two NASA astronauts to International Space Station

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SpaceX Crew Dragon delivers two NASA astronauts to International Space Station

By Joey Roulette

 

Launch pad 39A and SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft, carrying NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken, pictured before lift off, during NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. May 30, 2020 in this photo supplied by Maxar Technologies. Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Nearly 24 hours after launching from Florida, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule delivered NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station on Sunday, marking the first U.S. space capsule to do so with a crew since 2011.

 

The space station's current crew welcomed them aboard with hugs and handshakes on schedule at 1:25 p.m. EDT, after executing a critical spacecraft docking milestone and kicking off the crew's potentially months-long stay in the orbital laboratory.

 

Applause could be heard from the station's downlink to mission control in Houston, Texas as Behnken, 49, and Hurley 53, became the first American astronauts launched to the station from U.S. soil in nearly a decade.

 

"I will tell you, the whole world saw this mission, and we are so, so proud for everything you have done for our country and in fact to inspire the world," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said on a phone line through mission control.

 

Just under 19 hours after launching from Florida, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley docked with the International Space Station on Sunday, marking the first U.S. space capsule to do so with a crew since 2011.

 

"It's great to get the United States back in the crewed launch business, and we're just really glad to be on board this magnificent complex," Hurley said.

 

Saturday's launch by SpaceX, the private rocket company of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, represented another milestone for the reusable rockets it pioneered to make spaceflight less costly and more frequent.

 

It also marked the first time that commercially developed space vehicles - owned and operated by a private entity rather than NASA - have carried Americans into orbit.

 

Behnken said he and Hurley were able to get a few hours' sleep during their 19-hour orbital journey, telling the administrator that "the first night is always a little bit of a challenge, but the Dragon is a slick vehicle and we had good airflow so we had an excellent evening."

 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday for the journey to the space station. Just before liftoff, Hurley said, "SpaceX, we're go for launch. Let's light this candle," paraphrasing the famous comment uttered on the launch pad in 1961 by Alan Shepard, the first American flown into space.

 

The Falcon 9 took off from the same launch pad used by NASA's final space shuttle flight, piloted by Hurley, in 2011. Since then, NASA astronauts have had to hitch rides into orbit aboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft.

 

NASA last sent astronauts into space on a brand new vehicle 40 years ago at the start of the space shuttle program.

 

Boeing Co <BA.N>, which is producing its own launch system in competition with SpaceX, is expected to fly its CST-100 Starliner vehicle with astronauts aboard for the first time next year. NASA has awarded nearly $8 billion combined to SpaceX and Boeing for development of their rival rockets.

 

Musk, the South African-born high-tech entrepreneur who made his fortune in Silicon Valley, is also chief executive of electric carmaker and battery manufacturer Tesla Inc <TSLA.O>.

 

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Chizu Nomiyama)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-01

 

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[Bender Rodriguez]

anybody knows how much it costed to put those 2 men there ?

 

billion ? 5 ? 10 ?

 

in the name of tesla shares to sky rocket (lol)

[JeffersLos]

2 minutes ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

anybody knows how much it costed to put those 2 men there ?

Are you too busy singing '... but whitey's on the moon!' to google? 

[pegman]

Good to see everyone is safe.   Astronaut  is a very dangerous occupation. 

[bkkdawg]

Actornauts

[Cryingdick]

13 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

anybody knows how much it costed to put those 2 men there ?

 

billion ? 5 ? 10 ?

 

in the name of tesla shares to sky rocket (lol)

 

According to what I could find on the interwebz around $55 million. I think if I remember correctly the cost for the Russians to provide the service was around $90 million. So it is a big savings. 

 

Your instincts about TSLA shares were right I added a little to mine as soon as I could after the mission launched successfully. 

Edited June 1, 2020 by Cryingdick

[Susco]

31 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

According to what I could find on the interwebz around $55 million. I think if I remember correctly the cost for the Russians to provide the service was around $90 million. So it is a big savings. 

The cost for a seat on the Russian rockets was up to 90 Million, but averaged 55 Million over the years they have used them

 

The estimated cost for SpaceX is 55$ million for each flight, but that is apart of the 2.6 Billion Nasa has given to SpaceX and the 4.22 Billion given to Boeing to develop the vehicle

[Susco]

40 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Your instincts about TSLA shares were right I added a little to mine as soon as I could after the mission launched successfully. 

Curious how you buy Tesla shares during a weekend

And I wouldn't bet too much on Tesla, because it is a separate company from SpaceX, and it wouldn't surprise me if money Tesla is used to fund SpaceX.

 

Did you know that SpaceX lost a lot of money when a prototype exploded just a few days earl;ier

Edited June 1, 2020 by Susco

[Cryingdick]

1 minute ago, Susco said:

The cost for a seat on the Russian rockets was up to 90 Million, but averaged 55 Million over the years they have used them

 

The estimated cost for SpaceX is 55$ million for each flight, but that is apart of the 2.6 Billion Nasa has given to SpaceX and the 4.22 Billion given to Boeing to develop the vehicle

 

Okay makes sense to me. I wonder how many can fit on one flight potentially? If it is more than two people NASA made a good investment. A quick check on the web and it seems it could fit 7 people in the Dragon 2. 

[Cryingdick]

2 minutes ago, Susco said:

Curious how you buy Tesla shares during a weekend

Wow what a gotcha!!! You should read that I said as soon as I could. That was premarket at around 4 am this morning. Try again Sherlock. I was waiting with a smile for somebody to say this. LOL

Edited June 1, 2020 by Cryingdick

[rabas]

48 minutes ago, Susco said:

Did you know that SpaceX lost a lot of money when a prototype exploded just a few days earl;ier

Not much, it was a prototype test frame used for design learning. It was their 4th. Now they are assembling their 5th. It's part of a move fast, break things design philosophy that can lower costs relative to slower conventional design processes.

 

If you listened to Jim Bridenstine the other day, NASA is often astonished how fast SpaceX gets things built and yet they are near flawless. This break things and learn philosophy is a part of it.

[Bender Rodriguez]

so what magic scientific miracle came from the spacelab in the sky ?

 

about 0 you say ?  but still put billions into it for no obvious reason ?

 

space travel ? with millions of people out of a job ?

 

what a great investment ...

 

what if that money would be spend on PREVENTION of diseases ?

 

what now, no money in that, and it will upset the profits of BIG PHARMA...