The landmark unmanned test mission blasts off to the International Space Station, but there’s still work to do.
SpaceX has taken one small step toward sending astronauts into space with the successful first launch of the Crew Dragon capsule early Saturday morning.
Affixed to the top of a Falcon 9 booster, the rounded cone capsule of the Crew Dragon blasted off in a blaze of fire and smoke from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:49 a.m. ET Saturday. The unmanned launch is the first stage of the Demo-1 mission, designed to test the capabilities of the capsule over the next week, as it heads toward the International Space Station.
Though no human crew was on board, locked within the capsule was a flight dummy nicknamed Ripley and an anthropomorphic plushie of planet Earth designed to indicate when the capsule had reached zero gravity. The capsule was also carrying around 400 pounds of crew supplies and equipment to simulate future missions.
“This is really a significant achievement in the history of American spaceflight,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said prior to launch.
The historic launch, which was celebrated with cheers and applause at Kennedy Space Center, comes after multiple delays pushed the maiden flight back from an expected launch in 2018.
