Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley (front) participate in a SpaceX flight simulation of the planned Demo-2 test-flight mission in March 2020.SpaceX via NASA
Elon Musk formed SpaceX in 2002. Since then, the company has turned the spaceflight industry upside-down with dozens of reusable rocket launches.
For all its achievements, though, SpaceX has never flown a single person into space.
That will change on May 27 — weather and luck permitting — when NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley put on spacesuits, climb aboard SpaceX's new Crew Dragon spaceship, and ride the gumdrop-shaped vehicle into orbit atop a 23-story Falcon 9 rocket.
The astronauts' Demo-2 mission will be SpaceX's first human-rated flight and its second full test flight for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The goal of the roughly $8 billion effort is to restore American access to space with commercial partners; NASA retired all of its space shuttles in July 2011, and SpaceX is poised to achieve the feat before its competitor, Boeing.
Demo-2 will ferry the astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), where they may stay for more than 100 days.
Here's every notable step of SpaceX's first crewed flight, which will be the company's most critical, dangerous, and historic mission to date.
Read the original article on Business InsiderCopyright @ 2024. Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.For reprint rights. Times Syndication Service.