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LAST UPDATE | 30 May 2020
TWO NASA ASTRONAUTS have reached orbit on board a SpaceX rocket, in a first for a private company in the history of spaceflight.
The launch also represents the first launch of astronauts from US soil since 2011, with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on the ground to witness it.
Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will now head for a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). Their Crew Dragon capsule is expected to reach ISS in about 19 hours.
The duo were due to lift off on Wednesday, but the mission was aborted less than 17 minutes before launch time over concerns that the event could trigger lightning.
Instead the mission, named Demo-2, saw the launch take place today at 3.22pm in Florida (8.22pm Irish time).
Since ending its Space Shuttle programme in 2011, Nasa has depended on Russia’s space agency Roscosmos to transport its astronauts to the space station.
In 2014, Nasa awarded SpaceX and Boeing contracts to provide crewed launch services to the space station as part of its Commercial Crew Programme.
According to Nasa, the aim of the Demo-2 mission is to show SpaceX’s ability to ferry astronauts to the space station and back safely.
It is the final major step required by SpaceX’s astronaut carrier, the Crew Dragon, to get certified by Nasa’s Commercial Crew Programme for more long-term manned missions to space.
Blast off
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Behnken is the mission’s joint operations commander and take responsibility for the rendezvous, docking and undocking of the Dragon capsule, while Hurley was in charge of the launch, landing and recovery of the vehicle in his role as the Crew Dragon spacecraft commander.
Around 10 minutes after lift-off, the rocket successfully separated into a first stage and a second stage.
The first stage then return to a SpaceX landing ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida, while the second part of the rocket continues the journey with the Crew Dragon.
Rendezvous
The craft is expected to rendezvous and dock with the space station tomorrow at 3.30pm Irish time.
Behnken and Hurley will join the three other space station residents – Nasa’s Chris Cassidy and Russia’s Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner – to become members of the Expedition 63 crew.
The mission is expected to last anything between one and four months, with a number of tests being performed on the Crew Dragon.
- With reporting by Press Assocation
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Safe flight lads
ur making history
hope all goes well
Good luck lads
@Darren Farrell: They aren’t really making history, just doing business. Fair play to them though, hope they arrive safe and we can get back to making history and pushing the limits again
@Brendan Gordon: Landing they rocket they launched from is absolutely historic.
@Peter Denham: really #spaceshuttle
@JĄŠ -: Space shuttle isn’t a rocket is it?
@Peter Denham: if developing reusable rockets that can land safely isn’t pushing boundaries then I don’t know what is.
@JĄŠ -: completely different thing. Instead dof blowing up or just adding to the space junk floating around and wasting money… The thing can land and then be used again!?! How the hell is that not groundbreaking.
@Peter Denham: been landing the first stage for about 3 years now id say
@David Daly: Not on a manned mission. All that testing was leading to this moment.
@Brendan Gordon: reusable rocket, first private company sending men into space and a return to the US not relying on other nations sending people to space. Fail to see how its not history
@Peter Denham: The landing of the first stage is fairly common now and some have been reused 3 or 4 times. Having astronauts as the payload, doesn’t make the now routine landing of the 1st stage special.
@Mark Wallace: Nonsense. The first manned mission is special because that was the goal and today was the realisation of that goal. Is it as seismic as the moon landing? No. But successfully launching two men into space using innovative new technology is definitely historic, and will lead to greater things.
@Brendan Gordon: we?
@JĄŠ -: Really.
Hoping against hope that this historic launch can happen today. Makes me proud of the human race that we are capable of doing things like this
@Séan Ó Nuanáin: We can add it to our list of achievements such as being able to live in peace together and ensuring everyone has enough to eat.
Why are comments closed on Karen article?
@Jay: I dEmANd to sPeaK tO tHe mAnagEr!
Elon musk this generations pure genius, although I’m a bit biased as I own a Tesla model x, maybe the journal could do a piece on why the European Union make Tesla shut off some features here in Europe
@Happy entertainment: He’s clever, but I don’t know what intellectual calls their child “X Æ A-Xii.”
@Happy entertainment: Agree have a model x and the wife has the model 3, but pet gate is the restrictions in the EU.
@Happy entertainment: that’s interesting, do you mind me asking what features are turned off. Is it a power restriction?
@aidan mccormack: whole list of restrictions in Europe but it nearly makes autopilot useless or very annoying https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/tesla-model-s-model-x-autopilot-europe-regulations/ if thinking of buying one for yourself I know Elon is trying to sort it out with EU
@Happy entertainment: i am pretty sure its mostly the auto pilot which are self drive features – there are a lot of complications and safety standards that apply in EU – ya know trying to stop early versions of self driving cars from using people as guinea pigs and that sort of thing – there are obvious limitations to putting a vehicle designed to auto pilot in the usa onto european roads – there are also plenty of security challenges around self driving tech that needs a lot more work before allowing cyber hackers taking control of auto pilot fast cars on roads -tesla are builing mega factory in berlin so the eu will be playing along with these issues in the years ahead
@Happy entertainment: hi guys I also just wanted to tell yis that I have a Tesla aren’t we a great bunch of lads
@David Geraghty: well the story was on Elon musk and I have first hand experience and how good his products are so said it, get over it u clown,
@Happy entertainment: 8 hours later – i think he’s moved on.
Prefer the Aston Martin DB9 myself – mines blue and the wife has one in racing green.
Not very environmentally friendly, costs a good bit in tax and petrol but hey, I can afford it!
@Robert O’H: It’s called Publicity
Did anyone see it, I was looking up and a bird done the biggest pooh right down on me, spoiled the moment
@Colm Mc Cabe: yeah I did
Florida is 5 hours behind us, for anyone setting a reminder. Will be glued to the live feed tonight. Fingers crossed that they get the chance to launch safely soon. We could all do with a bit of hope for the future.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: I’ve been watching since T-4 hours (did the same on Wednesday). Watched the crew get ready, travel to the launch pad, get on the dragon, comms check & weather checks. It’s lice on the NASA You Tube channel. Totally getting my nerd on today and loving it…really, really hope it’s a go..
@Mia Ryan: *live not lice…doh.
@Mia Ryan: Yes, that’s where I watched it. NASA seems to have offered the best coverage. Good infographics too. (Saw people complaining that CNN dropped the ball on the countdown.) It was great.
Incredible achievement by Space X and NASA
Was looking forward to watching something in the sky south of the moon!!no show
@tuco: 8.49 we saw it. Was like faint flashes in the sky and saw it heading northwest for about three minutes.
@tuco: apparently it will be visible again at about 10.15
@Sam Harms: confirmed at 10.15ish
Godspeed!
Send us one of those postcards lads , “wish you were here”
@Conor Noonan: Did you see the Space X tweet of a bunch of people graduating this year? Someone asked for images & arranged all their images into a beautiful mosaic of Earth.
Here’s the link: https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1265724411371347968?s=19
I’ve a creak in me neck and seen nothing.
Let’s do this.
Will we be able to see it?
@steovani: yes. Its will pass under the moon about 18mins after take off.
@barry moore: thx
@steovani: too bright out to see unfortunately
@barry moore: this is false it is going to low earth orbit it is going nowhere near the moon
@David Geraghty: pretty sure he meant it will be visible by looking under the moon, not that it’s actually flying under the moon.
I heard there was a great atmosphere at the launch
@David O’Rourke: yeah, the were over the moon
Why couldn’t they blast off in irish time
@Brian Purcell: it woulda clashed with The Angelus !!
Does anyone know what country launched this??? Cant seem to find out. Thankfully all went well.
@Peter O Donnell: it was launched in Florida.
Did anyone see it fly over Ireland ????
@Mickomacko: Yes at about 8.49pm.
I think I saw the ISS, only. Way too tiny to photograph, but it looked like a double row of lights heading to the left of the moon.
They should have made the trousers brown as a colour design choice. Saves the embarrassment when they reach the space station.
What a rush. So jealous of that experience…
Trump is the first president to bring covid 19 to space that 1 for history books
The talk on the feed was all praise for current leadership, M’ercaw, Nasa, etc. They didn’t mention SpaceX or Musk once. Super North Korea-esque propaganda backslapping. Very weird to watch. Is this the rocket that lands in reverse?
@thesaltyurchin: Yes, the separated first stage, instead of splashing down in the Atlantic, lands on a ship and can be relaunched many times. They hardly ever get a good shot of that because the reentry approach tends to flatten everything in sight. There are some great aerial shots of the early trials.
@thesaltyurchin: who’s commentary we’re you listening to? This not what I recall from the commentary I heard on C-span.
It was accurate to the point and complementary to all parties involved as it should be.
Bet he’s playing Fly me to the moon song !!!
Ah, it would have to be Major Tom.
Recent reports are that weather is bad again might have to cancel
@Niall Fennelly: Just gave clearance to fuel up…weather has started to clear up and it’s looking really promising right now..
One small step for Elon!
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