Today marks a historical milestone for the teams at NASA and SpaceX, who today, returned manned space flight capability to US soil. As I am writing this, Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are orbiting the earth, slowly catching up with the ISS (International Space Station).
The two teams have been working together for many years to achieve this goal, and this morning at 5.22 AM AEST, they launched the two astronauts in the Dragon capsule on top of the massively successful Falcon 9 rocket.
The flight duration is 19 hours, after which, the two astronauts will dock with the ISS. This docking will mark the first time ever that astronauts have traveled to the ISS on a commercial rocket.
To further add to the list of firsts, SpaceX also successfully landed the stage 1 rocket back on their drone ship. Even though they have achieved this many times before, this is the first ever reusable rocket to carry astronauts, another huge milestone for making space more accessible through cheaper, reusable vehicles.
Flight Experience is developing a new range of space themed experiences, including landing the lunar lander on the moon in stunning virtual reality. Watch this space for updates through 2020.
If you haven't watched today's launch yet, we highly recommend checking it out. Watch the best coverage on SpaceX's Youtube channel.