May 31, 2020 – 10:05
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SpaceX made history on Saturday with the launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft at 3:22 p.m. and ushered in a new era of space exploration, after nearly a decade without manned missions dispatched from North American soil and with American pilots.
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley travel aboard the Crew Dragon, powered by a Falcon 9 rocket, from ramp 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Both astronauts will complete a long stay on the International Space Station (ISS), which will be part of the Demo-2 mission.
The International Space Station is 250 miles above Earth.
Although the Crew Dragon ship could remain in orbit for about 110 days, the duration of the mission will be determined once it is on the ISS and will depend on the preparation of the next commercial crew launch. Crew Dragon will be able to remain operational in orbit for at least 210 days as a requirement of NASA.
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