SpaceX, Nasa launches 4 astronauts on first operational mission in space

A SpaceX spacecraft carried four astronauts into outer space on November 15, 2020. With this kick-off, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) hopes that SpaceX will be helping in keeping the International Space Station (ISS) fully staffed.

NASA astronauts, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, Michael Hopkins, and Soichi Noguchi, who is an astronaut with a space agency of Japan, are now in the orbit. They are riding aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule that has been expected to dock with ISS on November 16, 2020, at 11 pm ET (9.30 am IST).

As it is the first fully operational crewed mission for SpaceX, it is for sure a landmark one for NASA and the company. It follows up a test mission that carried NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, both the test pilots to the space station.

NASA @SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts successfully launched on Nov. 15 at 7:27pm ET. After they dock to the @Space_Station, the crew will conduct science and maintenance before returning to Earth in spring of 2021: https://t.co/jmjYOGWCYp pic.twitter.com/W4au3CtSoL

— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2020

Key Highlights:

• The crew will be spending 27 hours in orbit as the spacecraft will slowly manoeuver toward its destination.

• If the crew dragon was launched on November 14, 2020, the trip would have been shorter, as first planned by NASA. However, the bad weather forced the officials to delayed the takeoff.

• The capsule has a working restroom. The astronauts also will have some time to sleep as the fully autonomous vehicle will manoeuvre through orbit.

• SpaceX and NASA officials in Texas, Houston, California, and Hawthorne will watch over the journey.

Congratulations to NASA and SpaceX on today's launch. It’s a testament to the power of science and what we can accomplish by harnessing our innovation, ingenuity, and determination. I join all Americans and the people of Japan in wishing the astronauts Godspeed on their journey.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 16, 2020

Development of Crew Dragon Capsule by SpaceX:

The Crew Dragon Capsule was developed by SpaceX under the commercial crew program of NASA. It was for the first time in the history of the space agency that the design, testing, and development of the new human-rated spacecraft was handed over to the private sector.

The United States has spent nearly a decade without the ability to launch astronauts into space as the Space Shuttle Program retired in 2011 because of which NASA was forced to rely on Soyuz Spacecraft of Russia to get astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) which left the multibillion-dollar orbiting laboratory understaffed.