The launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon shuttle on Saturday morning has been hailed a “signifiant achievement in the history of US space flight” bringing back the prospect of crewed American missions.
Not since 2011 has the US had the capacity to launch missions on home soil and the trial run is the first significant milestone in the collaboration between SpaceX and Nasa aiming to return to space.
A dummy crew of one was launched from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, 0749 GMT (0249 local time) and sensors will relay data on whether it is ready to run a manned mission.
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It is expected to meet its destination the International Space Station (ISS) at 1105 GMT (0605 local time) on Sunday, delivering around 400 pounds of cargo and staying for around five days before returning to Earth.
The craft was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket and carried a pilot dummy, nick named Ripley in a nod to Sigourney Weaver’s character in the alien movie.
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The American space agency ended its own Space Shuttle in 2011, opting for a new Commercial Crew Programme working with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Boeing.
Since then, it has relied on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to blast astronauts into space, which costs 81 million dollars a seat (£61 million).
Crew Dragon’s lift off has been hit by several delays along the way, previously scheduled for 7 January, before moving to 17 January and then pushing it back again to no earlier than February.
“This is really a significant achievement in the history of American space flight,” said Jim Bridenstine, Nasa administrator.
“We want to make sure we keep our partnership with Russia, which has been very strong for a long period of time, going back to the Apollo Soyuz era, but we also want to make sure we have our own capability to get back and forth to the ISS, so that we can have this strong partnership where they can launch on our rockets and we can launch on their rockets.
“But I think another big milestone here is the idea that we’re not as an agency, as Nasa, we’re not purchasing, owning and operating our own rockets at this point, we’re looking to a future where we can be a customer, one customer of many customers in a very robust commercial marketplace in lower Earth orbit.”
A trial carrying passengers for the first time could happen as soon as July, with astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley lined up to take the ride.
Additional reporting by PA
