[imagesource: SpaceX]

NASA has been running a program dedicated to creating reusable rockets for a while now.

Altogether, the program, which has at least two reusable planes, has logged 2 865 days in space over the course of five missions. The fifth mission launched on September 7, 2017, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Then SpaceX’s full-size Mk1 prototype of its next-generation reusable transportation system literally blew its lid during a ground test.

To remedy the situation, SpaceX decided to conduct an experiment to find all the flaws in the Crew Dragon Capsule by blowing it up.

Elon Musk’s space program has spent the better part of six years getting to a place where it can successfully launch astronauts into orbit.

Last year, the company did a full dress rehearsal, successfully launching the Crew Dragon to the station without a crew on board.

Now they’re ready to man the craft for the first time.

CNN with why this is a historic moment in space travel:

The stakes have never been higher for Elon Musk’s SpaceX. On Wednesday, the company will attempt to launch two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in a mission called Demo-2.

It will mark the first time in history that a commercial aerospace company has carried humans into Earth’s orbit. NASA and space fans have waited nearly a decade for this milestone, which will usher in the return of human spaceflight to US soil.

The United States hasn’t launched its own spacecraft since 2011 and has been training astronauts and transporting them to the International Space Station (ISS) on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. This costs NASA roughly $86 million a seat.

The launch of the Falcon 9 Crew Dragon will go ahead despite the pandemic, with veteran astronauts Robert Behnken, 49, and Douglas Hurley, 53 (below) at the helm.

Image: Bill Ingalls / NASA

They have been quarantined together to avoid infection and to ensure that they don’t take the pandemic with them to the ISS.

Behnken and Hurley both began their careers as military test pilots and have logged hundreds of hours piloting supersonic jets. They also both flew on previous Space Shuttle missions. When NASA selected them for this mission in 2018, it continued a long lineage of military test pilots who were deemed to have the “right stuff” for groundbreaking moments in human spaceflight history.

Per The Verge:

The Crew Dragon is designed to require minimal input from its passengers, but since this is a test, Hurley and Behnken will do some manual flying before they reach the space station.

“It’s obviously something that we want to make sure we understand completely for future crews in case they ever have to fly the vehicle manually,” Hurley said during a press conference. The plan is for Hurley to take control right after Crew Dragon reaches orbit as well as when they approach the space station.

CNN reports that they will stay on the ISS until another Crew Dragon capsule is ready for a second mission.

When Behnken and Hurley return home, they’ll board Crew Dragon, journey back through the atmosphere while the vehicle deploys parachutes and then land in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX and NASA are putting strict measures in place to ensure the safety of their crew and operational staff.

While throngs of people usually gather on the launchpad to watch the liftoff, no one will be allowed in to prevent gatherings that could spread COVID-19.

Instead, NASA will be streaming the event live so that everyone can watch, safely, at home.

As of Monday evening, there looked to be about a 60% chance of favorable weather conditions. On launch day, officials will evaluate weather at six hours, four hours and 45 minutes before launch.

The rocket will take off from “Pad 39A,” a historic site that has been the starting point of missions dating back to the Apollo era, including the first moon landing in 1969. SpaceX is currently leasing the launch pad from NASA.

NASA is currently running a live stream of preparations which you can take in while you wait:

NASA and SpaceX are targeting Wednesday at 4:33 AM for liftoff from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, Florida.

In South Africa, we’ll be able to watch the launch, tonight (May 27), with the live stream starting at 8:25 PM.

The launch itself is slated to take place at 10:33PM.

You can tune in here:

[source:cnn&verge]