SpaceX and NASA have successfully launched their Crew Dragon spacecraft atop the Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 3:22 p.m. ET. The launch was officially planned for Wednesday, May 27, but was postponed due to weather conditions.
The launch was named Crew Demo-2 and is carrying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station. The Crew Dragon spacecraft was placed atop a Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff in Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX Demo-2 marked the first U.S.-based human rocket launch since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. The mission is also the first private, commercially built manned spaceflight.
You can watch the historic launch below:
SpaceX also has a live video of the Crew Dragon’s test flight.
About SpaceX Dragon: The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth, and will soon become the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station. In 2020, SpaceX will return America’s ability to fly NASA astronauts to space on American vehicles for the first time since 2011. In addition to carrying astronauts to space for NASA, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft can also carry private passengers to Earth orbit, the ISS or beyond.
