05/30/2020

A radio amateur is one of two NASA astronauts headed to the International Space Station (ISS) following a May 30 launch of a SpaceX rocket that marked the return of human spaceflight to US soil for the first time in almost a decade. The Saturday launch from Cape Kennedy also marked the first time humans traveled aloft via a commercial spacecraft.

Astronauts Bob Behnken, KE5GGX, and Doug Hurley had been set to go into space on May 27 before unfavorable weather scrubbed the flight.

"Crew Dragon has separated from Falcon 9's second stage and is on its way to the International Space Station," a SpaceX tweet said. "Autonomous docking at the [ISS] will occur at ~10:30 AM EDT tomorrow, May 31."

The so-called "Demo-2 is the final major test for SpaceX's human spaceflight system to be certified by NASA for operational crew missions to and from the ISS Additional background and launch video[1] from the Kennedy Space Center is available.ÿ


[1] https://www.spacex.com/launches/

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