Journalist STEPHEN CLARK from SPACE FLIGHT NOW has the best seat in the house for the upcoming historic launch of NASA/SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Spacecraft, lifting off on a Falcon 9 Rocket from Kennedy Space Center.
He joined me on the First Day to talk about just how historic it is! “DEMO-2 will be the first crewed launch to orbit from American soil since NASA’s Shuttle Program ended in 2011″ said Stephen. “This has been in the making for a decade”.
The 2 Astronauts on board are by no means rookies. “Robert Behnken & Douglas Hurley are Veterans and each have flown on twice on shuttle missions. In fact, Hurley, piloted the last shuttle mission in 2011. They will launch as co-commanders on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle, which will lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.”
The Astronauts are headed to the International Space Station. And then what? “The Astronauts should arrive on Thursday and will join a crew of 3 already there. Two Russian Cosmonauts and an American Astronaut. They’ll be helping with experiments and will also conduct a few space walks to do some work outside the Space Station, in addition to testing the new spacecraft” said Clark.
If all goes well, what could this mean for SpaceX? “This is a major milestone for SpaceX, founded in 2002. Their core mission is always been to fly humans to space. This will be the first time. The future goals are to send people to Mars, to the Moon. a lot of eyes will be watching. It’s also critical to NASA. Future plans are riding on SpaceX and a lot riding on this mission for the future of space exploration.” says Stephen.
Because of COVID-19, not to many Press Passes were made available, but Stephen got one and is at Kennedy Space Center for the launch, which is set for Wednesday, Wednesday, May 27th at 4:33pm ET. Spaceflight Now members can watch a live view of the Falcon 9 rocket on launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
The event will also be streamed LIVE by NASA and SpaceX, beginning at 3 p.m. ET on May 27.
https://omny.fm/shows/first-day-with-terri-stacy/stephen-clark-space-flight-now-shares-his-insight
