SpaceX usher in the era of commercial space travel

The flight of the two astronauts to the ISS station, jointly conducted by SpaceX and NASA, created a new turning point in the field of space travel.

After nearly two decades of effort, Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, successfully launched a spacecraft to put two astronauts into orbit, opening a new era for spaceflight in America. Demo-2 flight  marked the first time astronauts were put into orbit from the United States in nearly a decade and SpaceX became the first private company to carry passengers by self-made vehicles.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket leaves the launcher. (Photo: AFP).

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley fly into space inside SpaceX's new autonomous ship, Crew Dragon, which is designed to carry people between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS). Sitting inside the conical capsule, the duo departed on the back of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:22 pm on May 31 according to Hanoi time. The rocket took the Crew Dragon to orbit about 12 minutes later. On the same evening, the two astronauts successfully paired with the International Space Station.

"Bob and Doug, on behalf of the entire launch team, thank you for flying with Falcon 9 missiles , " Bala Ramamurthy, chief engineer for Crew Dragon project, told the two astronauts after they to orbit. "We hope you enjoy your flight and wish you all the best . " The Falcon 9 rocket propulsion floor also successfully landed on one of the SpaceX unmanned ships in the Atlantic, ending the smooth launch.

This launch is an important milestone for SpaceX, the company founded by Musk with the goal of bringing people into space and building settlements on Mars. This is also the last important test for SpaceX under NASA's Commercial Crew program. Through the program, NASA selected two companies, SpaceX and Boeing, to develop new spacecraft that can regularly transport astronauts between the Earth and the International Space Station (ISS). After 6 years of developing and testing Crew Dragon, SpaceX became the pioneer company in the first space race. The flight on May 31 helps determine whether the Crew Dragon is ready to fly NASA astronauts to the ISS in the coming years.

Although the flight was viewed as an experiment, it still meant a great deal to the United States. The last time astronauts flew into orbit from the United States was during the last flight of the space shuttle on July 8, 2011. Since then, the Russian Soyuz rocket is the only vehicle to make manned flights to the ISS, and each seat on Soyuz costs NASA about $ 80 million.

The Commercial Crew program was created to end NASA's dependence on Russia and to open up a new way of operating at NASA. Historically in space, the government is responsible for overseeing the design, manufacture and operation of spacecraft to orbit people. With Commercial Crew, NASA wants the private sector to join. When signed with SpaceX and Boeing in 2014, NASA hoped it could launch the vehicle in 2017. Technical delays and test failures made the program progress more slowly than expected, but SpaceX did. Create new turning point.

"SpaceX has laid the foundation for a new era in spaceflight, " Jim Bridenstine, director of NASA, said before the launch. " It's an era where more people can fly into space than before."

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket takes off for the successful launch of a space shuttle. (Video: SpaceX).

The Crew Dragon is designed to automatically pair with the ISS station without receiving orders from the crew, although the two astronauts control the ship with a touch screen when approaching the ISS station. After checking the interface, they handed back control to the Crew Dragon. The ship successfully paired with the ISS station at 21h16 on 31/5 Hanoi time. This is still not an absolute victory.

Behnken and Doug Hurley will have to go through the return journey, helping to test Crew Dragon's ability to safely return to Earth. NASA has not decided on their return flight, which is expected to take place in the next 6-16 weeks. After the decision, Behnken and Hurley will return to the Crew Dragon's cabin and begin the intense journey through the Earth's atmosphere. Crew Dragon is equipped with a heat shield to protect astronauts, a 4-parachute system is designed to inflate and help the vehicle land gently on the Atlantic. After that, SpaceX's recovery ship will meet the crew, bring them and the ship ashore. That is a milestone for the successful mission. "I will not celebrate until Bob and Doug return home successfully," the NASA director said.

NASA plans to use the data collected from this mission to certify that the Crew Dragon can make frequent flights to carry astronauts between the Earth and the ISS. SpaceX and NASA plan to conduct the next flight of the Crew Dragon on August 30 with four astronauts, including three NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and Shannon Walker, and Japanese astronaut Soichi. Noguchi. That marks the beginning of a new era in which private companies periodically send people to Earth's low orbit.

SpaceX's ambition doesn't end there. The company is developing the Starship to carry people to deep-space locations like the Moon and Mars in the future. There are many obstacles between bold and realistic vision, but the success of Demo-2 shows the company is on track to help people fly deeper into the universe.