Everything is excitement and joy!
In a few hours, a company rocket SpaceX will take two astronauts from the POT into space in the next few hours, the first launch of Americans from the country itself in almost a decade.
The launch is scheduled for 4:33 p.m. EST, from the same location at the Kennedy Space Center where the man traveled to the moon and the last space shuttle took off in 2011.
You can follow the live broadcast of the launch here:
“This is a great moment in time,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on the eve of the launch. “Nine years have passed since we had this opportunity.”
The launch places SpaceX, owned by Elon musk, on the cusp of becoming the first private company to put astronauts into orbit, something accomplished by just three countries: Russia, the United States, and China.
On board SpaceX’s Dragon capsule van Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. “We’re ready!” Behnken tweeted Tuesday night.
Wednesday’s weather in Florida worried because it was raining in the morning.
NASA went ahead with the launch despite the pandemic of coronavirus, but asked the public to stay home to reduce the risk of contagion. The beaches and parks along the Florida space coast are open again.
If takeoff does not materialize on Wednesday, the next attempt would be on Saturday.
The last time astronauts were sent from Florida was on the final flight of the NASA shuttle in July 2011. Hurley was the pilot of that mission.
Hurley, 53, and Behnken, 49, have traveled twice on ferries.
NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing in 2014 to bring astronauts to the space station, after they began to carry commercial cargo into space. However, development of Boeing’s SpaceX Dragon and Starliner pods took longer than expected, and in the meantime the United States was paying Russia to transport NASA astronauts.
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