CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX just launched its third astronaut mission in less than a year.
A slightly sooty Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule took to the skies above NASA’s Kennedy Space Center here at 5:49 a.m. EDT (0949 GMT) today (April 23), lighting up the predawn sky as it lifted off from the historic Pad 39A.
The launch kicked off SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission, which will carry four astronauts — NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japanese spaceflyer Akihiko Hoshide — on a 24-hour flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
SpaceX Crew-2 astronaut launch for NASA.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying four Crew-2 astronauts lifts off from NASA’s Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Station in Cape Canaveral Florida on April 23, 2021. (Image credit: NASA TV)
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The launch countdown proceeded smoothly, with the closeout crews completing leak and communications checks ahead of schedule. The crew was relaxed and even enjoyed a quick game that resembled rock, paper, scissors (but was actually a game Thomas played as a kid and shared with his crewmates) while waiting for the leak checks to be completed.
“Our crew is flying astronauts from NASA, ESA and JAXA, which hasn’t happened in over 20 years,” Kimbrough told SpaceX flight controllers just before launch as he thanked the NASA and SpaceX teams. “Off the Earth, for the Earth, Endeavour is ready to go.”
The Falcon 9 put on a breathtaking show this morning as the glows from the rocket’s engines lit up the sky.
“Predawn launches are always amazing,” said Steve Jurzcyk, acting NASA administrator during the webcast. “It was thrilling to see.”
The skies were clear enough that onlookers could see the rocket’s engines relight as the first stage made its way back to Earth.
A massive space jellyfish or nebula cloud formed in the sky. These types of trippy effects are typical during twilight conditions present at dawn and dusk, and this morning’s launch did not disappoint.
Crew-2’s launch was one for the history books. It marked several firsts, including the first time that people have flown on a used Crew Dragon and with a used Falcon 9 first stage, and the first time that two different international astronauts have ridden in the capsule.
Crew-2’s launch was one for the history books. It marked several firsts, including the first time that people have flown on a used Crew Dragon and with a used Falcon 9 first stage, and the first time that two different international astronauts have ridden in the capsule.
The Crew Dragon vehicle that launched this morning, known as Endeavour, also lifted off in May of 2020, carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS on the Demo-2 test flight, SpaceX’s first-ever crewed mission. In a nice bit of additional symmetry, Behnken is McArthur’s husband.
“Glad to be back in space for all of us,” Kimbrough radioed SpaceX flight controllers after reaching orbit.
The success of Demo-2 helped usher in a new era in spaceflight — one led by commercial companies.
The rise of private astronaut taxis
In July 2011, the space shuttle Atlantis touched down for the final time, ending the storied career of NASA’s fleet of space shuttles. The winged orbiters were NASA’s human spaceflight workhorses for 30 years and helped build the ISS, which celebrated its 20th anniversary of continuous human occupation last year.
But the shuttle’s days were limited. Just before its retirement, NASA decided that it wanted to hand over the reigns of low Earth orbit to private industry and entrusted two companies to ferry agency astronauts to and from space.
Those companies, SpaceX and Boeing, have worked to build new spacecraft capable of safely carrying astronauts as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which turned 10 years old this year. SpaceX built Crew Dragon, an advanced variant of its robotic Dragon cargo capsule, and Boeing is developing a capsule called CST-100 Starliner.
Since the shuttle’s retirement, every astronaut bound for the ISS had hitched a ride on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft — until Demo-2 brought private vehicles into the mix. Following that successful two-month test mission, NASA certified Crew Dragon to carry astronauts to and from the space station on a regular basis. The first operational Crew Dragon mission, Crew-1, ferried four astronauts to the ISS this past November.
NASA recently took that certification one step further, approving crewed launches that employ preflown Falcon 9 first stages and preflown Crew Dragon capsules. And we saw the effects of that decision today: Endeavour flew on Demo-2, and this particular Falcon 9 first stage also launched Crew-1.
