The upcoming Crew 1 mission not only marks the first operational flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon, the four astronauts aboard will – for the first time — bring the International Space Station’s staffing from six to seven. Launch to the orbiting laboratory is set to take place at 7:49 p.m. EST on Nov. 14, 2020.
In 1983, The Right Stuff movie premiered claiming to tell the story of test pilots and those who became America’s first astronauts. The film received acclaim from the majority of the critics who wrote reviews. But, as an accurate chronicle of efforts to pave the road to space, it failed. Astronaut Wally Schirra summed it up best: “The movie was fun. It was well-produced and the acting is great. But as history, it‘s merely ‘Animal House’ in space.’”
On a brisk day just over a century ago, what started as a venture between two brothers changed the world forever. On Dec. 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright opened the realm of air travel with their first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In 10 short years, commercial aviation became a reality. Fast forward another 50 years and humans not only were flying in the air, but also in space.
During America’s first human spaceflight program, the eyes of the world often focused on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. As the nation’s Project Mercury astronauts were taking their pioneering steps into space, a centerpiece facility in this effort for astronaut training, crew quarters and spacecraft processing was Hangar S at the Cape.
NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour first arrived at her home spaceport, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, on May 7, 1991. Following exactly one year of completing assembly, rigorous tests and processing, the newest orbiter “set sail”into the skies over the Atlantic Ocean. The maiden voyage marked one of the most dramatic examples of the value of humans in spaceflight.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program took another step forward with the successful launch of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner on an unpiloted Orbital Flight Test (OFT). The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifted off at 6:36 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2019 from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Over the past three decades America’s Space Shuttle has established a legacy of rewriting the history of space flight. During that time, astronauts shuttled to and from low Earth orbit showing again and again the value of the human element in this challenging endeavor.
The first elements of the International Space Station now have been in orbit for more than 20 years. Assembly of the largest spacecraft ever built was a global, cooperative effort and began with the STS-88 space shuttle mission in December 1998.