The US closer to putting astronauts into orbit from home soil

CNN reports on the successful launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.

This was a demonstration mission with no crew onboard and the launch puts SpaceX one step closer to a historic landmark: Crew Dragon could be the first commercially built spacecraft to carry NASA astronauts to orbit.

Crew Dragon, along with a capsule called Starliner by Boeing,  could end the United States’ decade-long reliance on Russia for human spaceflight.

The US has been unable to put humans into orbit ever since it retired the Space Shuttle program in 2011.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk said that Saturday’s launch could be the first step towards opening space travel to commercial customers.

SpaceX’s capsule is now en route to the International Space Station.

Via CNN and NASA

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