NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 is now en route to ISS

This past Sunday, on November 15th, The NASA SpaceX mission had a successful launch to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission took off at 7:27 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), all began their six-month mission aboard the space station.

Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, stated that the mission fell into orbit within the first 12 minutes. More data is to be collected as the mission continues.

A milestone was reached, as this mission is the first NASA-certified commercial human spacecraft system in history. It’s the first of six crewed missions NASA and SpaceX will fly as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

On top of that, the mission consists of several firsts, including:

• The first flight of the NASA-certified commercial system designed for crew transportation, which moves the system from development into regular flights;
• The first international crew of four to launch on an American commercial spacecraft;
• The first time the space station’s long duration expedition crew size will increase from six to seven crew members, which will add to the crew time available for research; and
• The first time the Federal Aviation Administration has licensed a human orbital spaceflight launch.

NASA will be monitoring the Crew-1 mission and its astronauts from the Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.