A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off on March 3, 2024, with three Americans and one Russian for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Ongoing research aboard the orbital laboratory is designed to benefit humans living on and off the Earth. What is learned in orbit also will help NASA prepare for long-term operations on and around the Moon and eventual exploration of Mars.
During 2023, 72 rockets launched into the skies regularly rumbling windows along Florida’s Space Coast proving, again, that NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station have been established as America’s premier multi-user spaceport. The new record shattered the previous number set only last year during which 57 rockets lifted off.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has launched another diverse crew of astronauts for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. The company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off into the pre-dawn sky from Launch Complex 39A at NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center on March 2, 2023. The Crew-6 mission includes two NASA astronauts: mission commander Stephen Bowen and pilot Woody Hoburg. They were joined by mission specialists Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia.
Capped by the highly successful Artemis I mission, 2022 was a landmark year for NASA. Groundbreaking research continued in Earth orbit, a new human-rated spacecraft circled the Moon, robotic exploration of Mars reached important milestones and the agency’s newest telescope revealed never-before seen images of the universe.
In the decade after the first rocket lifted off into the skies above Cape Canaveral, the launch site became the focal point of America’s efforts to explore beyond Earth. To meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the Moon, a expansive new site was needed. That location became NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, a premier multi-user spaceport now commemorating its 60th anniversary.
The second uncrewed flight test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft lifted off to prove the system could safely carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. It is another step toward NASA having two different spacecraft to send astronauts from American soil to the orbiting laboratory.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 3:52 a.m. EDT on the morning of April 27, 2022, boosting the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. NASA’s Crew-4 astronauts plan to spend six months conducting research to improve life on Earth. Their work also will aid agency preparations for exploration beyond Earth.
On Aug. 14, 2017, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. It was a commercial resupply mission delivering supplies to the International Space Station. Four days later, the agency’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M lifted off on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Well before the final Space Shuttle touched down in 2011, the burgeoning commercial space industry was expressing interest in expanding business pursuits in space. At the same time, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center found itself in a unique position. For over 30 years most of the center’s resources were dedicated for the expressed purpose of supporting the Space Shuttle Program. Now Kennedy was left with excess facilities and capacity with no program requirements or funding.
On Sept. 16, 2021, SpaceX launched its Inspiration4 mission with four civilian crewmembers. It was the company’s first fully private flight sending humans to orbit. It was an example of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center serving as a premier multi-user spaceport, supporting an ever-expanding commercial industry, providing transportation to space for both people and cargo.