by Hans Izaak Kriek*
The space flight with the Crew Dragon from SpaceX, the first of a commercial company to the International Space Station, ISS, is a big success for the US. It is the first time since 2011 that astronauts lift off from American soil on American-made rockets and spacecraft. NASA had to rely on Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, to get to the ISS since the US final space shuttle flight in 2011.
The SpaceX space capsule with NASA astronauts on board arrived safely at the ISS, a landmark mission that ended Russia’s monopoly on flights there. Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will remain on the ISS for almost three months in preparation for more missions from the US. They were good choices for the maiden Dragon mission. Both are veterans of two space shuttle missions, and Hurley, fittingly, was one of the crew members aboard the final space shuttle mission in 2011.
The mission marks the beginning of a new era in which NASA will be purchasing transport services from the commercial sector. No more will it own and operate the American vehicles that run to and from the station. This will be done exclusively by firms such as SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, which is led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
SpaceX flew a first demonstration of its new crew vehicle last year, but that had only a dummy aboard. This sortie is the first to carry humans. SpaceX and NASA need a clean crewed demonstration so they can move swiftly to the next phase of the company’s $2.6 billion contract, which will encompass six astronaut ‘taxi flights’, with the first of these likely to occur at the end of August.
As part of the Commercial Crew Program, NASA also awarded funding to SpaceX’s rival, Boeing, which is similarly developing a spacecraft known as the CST-100 Starliner. In December, Boeing conducted an uncrewed test flight of the CST-100 Starliner, but atimer glitch prevented the capsule from reaching the proper orbit to dock with the space station. Last month, Boeing announced that the company will fly a second uncrewed test flight later this year to demonstrate that the issue has been corrected.
Crowds of spectators including President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence watched and cheered as the countdown ticked to zero, and the engines of a Falcon 9 rocket roared to life. It was a moment of nostalgia for the US, a welcome reminder of America’s global pre-eminence in science, technological innovation and private enterprise at a time its prospects and ambitions have been clouded by the coronavirus pandemic, economic uncertainty and political strife.
President Trump, called it ‘an inspiration for our country’ and a ‘beautiful sight’ after the ship lifted off. “I’m so proud of the people at NASA, all the people that worked together, public and private,” he told reporters. “That same spirit which powered our astronauts to the moon has also helped lift our country to ever greater heights of justice and opportunity throughout our history.”
Trump also discussed his creation of a Space Force, a new branch of the military, and said this and other policies of his administration aimed to help the United States regain prestige as a global leader in space and that US astronauts soon land on Mars, and that Washington would soon have ‘the greatest weapons ever imagined in history. “With this launch the decades of lost years and little action are officially over,” the president said. “A new age of American ambition has begun.” Words that
Russia’s space agency, that accommodated ten years US space flights, criticised what they called Trump’s ‘hysteria’ about the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from US soil in nine years, but also said it was pleased there was now another way to travel into space. NASA had to rely on Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, to get to the ISS since the US final space shuttle flight in 2011.
*International political journalist and author of the Dutch political book ‘De Patatbalie’ about the relation between media and politicians
By: N. Peter Kramer
