NASA and Space X Launched A Historic Success Today
Did you ever dream about becoming an astronaut?
I used to dream about being an astronaut when I was younger, female pilots like Amelia Earhart and astronauts like Sally Ride were some of my first heroes.
And like many of us growing up after the space race, when the tragedy of lives lost while trying to explore space proved fatal with Apollo, Challenger, and Columbia, I pondered if those fueled by the desire to reach new territory would give up on space exploration altogether.
NASA and Space X Launch Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon successfully today.
Today NASA and Space X made my heart leap with another successful launch of astronauts inside Falcon 9 headed to the International Space Station. It will take about 23 hours for the Crew Dragon spacecraft to dock at ISS Saturday but it is said to have been an incredible take-off and no problems were reported. The astronauts on board include female astronaut Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, of America as well as astronaut Akihiko Hoshide of Japan and Thomas Pesquet of Europe.
You can watch the launch over again right here. I cried. I always do.
Thank you, SpaceX for the live coverage on your Youtube channel.
Why is this successful launch making history?
Outside of the successful launch in itself, what's historic to note here is that Falcon 9 has actually launched successfully previously delivering a crew of astronauts to the ISS in November 2020, and the same Crew Dragon spacecraft that sent and returned two astronauts during the first successful launch of astronauts for Space X in May!
This means for the first time since we sent our very first rocket into outer space in the '50s, Sputnik 1957, Space X has successfully "recycled" a rocket and spacecraft.
It's a new era of space transportation!
I'm so proud for both NASA and Space X, fantasizing that perhaps one day, one of my granddaughters might live the dream I had forty years ago when in their lifetime traveling into space likely becomes a daily occurrence.
You can continue to watch it all live right here.
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