NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley have now enteredpre - flight quarantineand will fly to the International Space Station ( ISS ) at the destruction of the month . This is a workaday procedure in homework for a space launching . What ’s not routine is the positioning where the two are launch from . Behnken and Hurley will be the first cosmonaut in nine years to launch from American soil .
They are currently expected to launch on Wednesday , May 27 , at 4:33pm local time from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida . They are the first astronauts to travel on the SpaceX Crew Dragon abridgement via NASA ’s Commercial Crew Program . The last metre astronauts went to quad from US soil was on July 8 , 2011 , on theSpace Shuttle Atlantis .
The period of quarantine is known as the “ trajectory work party health stabilization ” and is done to make indisputable spaceman do not fetch potential pathogens with them to outer space . When the two arrive there , they will fill the three current resident of the ISS : NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner .
The quarantine procedure have been in place since the Apollo Program . But give the current Covid-19 pandemic , supererogatory measuring rod are in place to make certain anyone who get in contact with the bunch is thoroughly tested for the computer virus .
demonstration 2 , as the mission is christened , is the start of a new advance for humanity to access low-spirited - ground orbit . NASA pick out SpaceX and Boing in September 2014 to transport bunch to and from the ISS , allowing the agency to focalize on deep - blank space delegacy , such as a payoff to the Moon in 2024 .
Apart from Behnken and Hurley , seven other astronaut are presently working with the two secret company by training to operate the spacecraft , try out out young spacesuits , and practice regular astronaut training procedure . This admit learning about extravehicular activities , the sustainment of the space post , and how to conduct the many scientific experiment constantly running on the ISS .
hand the milestone of having American astronaut launch from American soil was fraught withdelays and safety concernsregarding the capsules , but after many successful test , it ’s almost here .
