NASA Offers Historic Certification To SpaceX For Human Space Travel
Image via SpaceX
NASA has officially certified SpaceX as the first commercial spacecraft company to send astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
This week, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft received a Human Rating Certification Plan signed by the agency before the historic Crew-1 launch scheduled for Saturday.
“Thank you to NASA for their continued support of SpaceX and partnership in achieving this goal,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a statement.
This momentous milestone marks the first time NASA has certified a human space travel system in nearly 40 years.
The upcoming mission will additionally be noted as the first ISS crew rotation mission launched from American soil since 2011, when the Space Shuttle program retired.
So far, Musk’s company has sent two NASA astronauts to the ISS aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft for its Demo-2 mission, which launched on 30 May 2020.
BREAKING: @NASA and @SpaceX have completed certification of #CrewDragon! I’m extremely proud to say we are returning regular human spaceflight launches to American soil on an American rocket and spacecraft. More: https://t.co/VGPPAtSll3 #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/jUZx0BBPwb
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) November 10, 2020
[via Futurism, cover image via SpaceX]
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