Successful SpaceX and NASA launch: A major turning point

Astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi

 

Monday night, four astronauts were shot into space in the SpaceX space capsule Crew Dragon in Florida.

The goal is the International Space Station ISS, and the journey with the space capsule, which has been named "Resilience," will take around 27 hours.

This is the first time a private company has carried out such a mission on behalf of NASA. This is also the second time in history that the Falcon rocket for SpaceX has been used to send people out, after a successful test trip in May, writes BBC.

The launch took place at on Monday and SpaceX reports on Twitter that things have gone - and are going - according to plan.

- It was a bit of a trip. There were many smiles, Mike Hopkins, one of the four astronauts on board, told the control room about an hour after he and the others were shot into space, writes Reuters.

Phil McAlister, head of NASA's commercial space development program, is currently calling it a milestone, writes CNBC:

- It may not seem so big right now, but in 20 years I think we will look back on this moment as a major turning point in our exploration and exploitation of space.

In addition to Hopkins, these are on the trip: Astronauts Victor Glover and Shannon Walker from NASA and the Japanese Jaxa astronaut Soichi Noguchi

Once there, they will spend about six months on the space station.

NASA and the Kennedy Center transmit directly throughout the astronauts' journey to the space station.

Trump and Biden congratulate

US Vice President Mike Pence was present at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida during the launch, writes the news agency AP.

- I did not start breathing until about a minute after it took off, Pence said when he visited the control room to congratulate them on the successful launch.

President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that the launch was great.

- NASA was approaching disaster when we took over. Now it is again the "hottest", most advanced space center in the world, he writes, adding that it is far behind the competition.

US President-elect Joe Biden also congratulates NASA and SpaceX on the successful launch:

- This is a testament to how powerful science is and what we can achieve by leveraging our innovation, ingenuity and determination. I stand with all Americans and Japanese in wishing the astronauts good luck on their journey, he writes on Twitter.

SpaceX is the first private company to launch astronauts into space. NASA has invested a lot of money in the company, and their goal is to use the private sector to make it cheaper to send people into space, writes CNBC.

However, SpaceX chief Elon Musk was probably not present during the launch at the Kennedy Center in Florida: He said on Saturday that he probably has a mild version of covid-19 disease, and comments on the successful launch.

The development of SpaceX has been going on for a long time. In March 2017, for the first time, they managed to get a launch vehicle to return to Earth by itself, after several failed attempts and explosions.

Since then, they have been carrying satellites into space, but the plan has always been to carry humans. However, Elon Musk's ultimate goal is not the space station: he wants to go to Mars. In 2016, he said the plan is to send humans to Mars by 2024.