SpaceX and NASA launch two astronauts from the U.S. for the first time in 9 years

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — America’s triumphant return to human spaceflight looked like this Saturday: A commercial rocket cutting through clear blue skies with cheers erupting along the Space Coast.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off right at 3:22 p.m., astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley riding atop on a Crew Dragon astronaut capsule, ending a nine-year drought for America’s astronaut launch program.

The moment was like one large sigh of relief, for the thousands of engineers who have dedicated nearly a decade to this program, for SpaceX founder Elon Musk who founded his company to take humans to space, for NASA which bet on a new commercial approach to human spaceflight and for the families of the two brave astronauts who took the ride.

In his last call out to the ground teams, Hurley said, “It is absolutely our honor to be part of this huge effort to get the United States back in the launch business. We’ll talk to you from orbit. Thank you.”

Behnken and Hurley will now spend 19 hours in space before reaching the International Space Station at 10:29 a.m. Sunday. They’ll stay there between six and 16 weeks before splashing back down off the Florida coast in the Atlantic Ocean under parachutes.

The astronauts’ ascent into space was met by large crowds across the Space Coast who gathered to catch a glimpse of history. As the Falcon 9 lifted into the summer sky, dozens of people along the river in downtown Titusville cheered and chanted, “USA! USA!”

Among them was Andre Babineau of Orlando, a 52-year-old welder, with his wife, Jennifer.

“It was fantastic to see something like that — everybody around here and then the chanting going, ‘USA!'” he said. “I liked it … just being a part of history, not only American history but world history.”

The mission also had him wanting more from the space program.

“I am hoping to see us land back on the moon in my lifetime,” he said.

Saturday’s flight was the first since the space shuttle program was shuttered in 2011 to carry astronauts from U.S. soil. At the end of the shuttle, America lost the capability of sending its own astronauts to space. In the meantime, Russia’s Soyuz rockets have transported U.S. crews to the ISS for about $80 million a seat.

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In 2014, NASA contracted with SpaceX and Boeing to build human-rated vehicles that could reignite America’s dream of space. That program had already been working since the mid-2000s toward Saturday’s milestone: The first crewed test flight. SpaceX, ultimately, was the first to reach it.

It was a second attempt for SpaceX — a planned launch on Wednesday was scrapped due to persistent bad weather that hovered over the Space Coast into the launch window. The company also landed its booster on its drone ship, “Of Course I Still Love You,” in the Atlantic Ocean about eight minutes after takeoff.

“Congratulations to you and the F9 team for the first human ride for Falcon 9. It was incredible,” Hurley said once the rocket’s second stage separated. “Appreciate all the hard work and thanks for the great ride to space.”

Hurley and Behnken announced while on orbit the name they chose for the capsule: Endeavour, after the space shuttle both flew in on their first missions to space.

Following takeoff, President Donald Trump spoke from inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building. He was joined by Vice President Mike Pence, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Rick Scott and others in front of a mock-up of the Crew Dragon vehicle.

“With this launch, decades of lost years and little action are officially over,” Trump said. “A new age of American ambition has now begun.”

The face of that ambition is Musk, Trump said, whose company is now the first commercial enterprise to put humans in orbit.

Musk, who was joined by his family and surrounded by the families of the two astronauts, threw his fists in the air and jumped from the crowd.

“Today’s launch makes clear the commercial space industry is the future,” Trump said. “The modern world was built by risk-takers.”

At a post-launch press briefing, Musk, who founded SpaceX to fly humans in 2002, said he was “quite overcome with emotion.”

“I think this is something that should really get people right in the heart of anyone who has any spirit of exploration,” Musk said.

In Titusville, a spectator who traveled from Miami to watch the launch called it a victory for science.

“I feel like it’s a good moment for us with the [coronavirus pandemic] … and everything that we are facing,” said Andre Silva, 37. “We have to really value science and research. So definitely we need it.”

For the crews working the mission, a human flight also carried with it the added heft of responsibility.

Ahead of the flight, the astronauts, wearing their sleek, black-and-white SpaceX spacesuits, said a final goodbye to their families outside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building just after the noon hour.

Behnken, 49, and Hurley, 53, both became astronauts together in 2000 and flew two space shuttle missions each, but never together. The two are close friends — Hurley was best man at Behnken’s wedding to fellow astronaut Megan McArthur — and both have young sons. Hurley is also married to another fellow astronaut, Karen Nyberg.

Behnken said he knows what his wife must be feeling at this moment. He, too, had to watch her launch on a space shuttle mission.

“There is just something different about watching a rocket launch when there are people on board,” Behnken said in a NASA video. “…I can only tell you it’s multiplied significantly when it’s somebody that you know and somebody, of course, that’s a family member, it’s even multiplied more.”

Behnken and Hurley’s wives and sons were waiting for them when they walked out the historic doors in the Armstrong building for the first time together Saturday, heading toward two white Tesla Model X SUVs that later took them out to Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A.

When they saw them, Hurley and Behnken held their arms wide, giving their families a virtual hug.

“I love you,” Behnken told Theo. “Are you going to be on good behavior? Are you going to listen to mommy and make her life easy?”

Theo nodded, wearing a navy “Team Bob” shirt.

“Let’s light this candle!” Theo shouted.

After the duo climbed into their Tesla, the NASA worm logo in the back window, Hurley lowered his back passenger window. Jack and Nyberg approached.

Jack, in a black “Hurley Support Crew” shirt, high-fived his dad.

Nyberg held her hand out and gave Hurley’s a squeeze.

If Musk’s rocket company secures certification, Crew Dragon’s first operational mission could take off as soon as Aug. 30.

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When Behken and Hurley arrive at the station, they’ll collect an 8-by-12-inch flag from Chris Cassidy, the only American on board.

The flag flew on the first and last shuttle missions. Hurley was on board STS-135, the final shuttle flight on July 2011, part of the crew that last delivered it there to be picked up again when America returned to space on a commercial vehicle.

“This flag remains here today, waiting for Bob and Doug,” Cassidy said. “I can’t wait to look out the window and see my friends on close approach.”

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