The SpaceX is about to take astronauts into space for the first time

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will fly aboard the Crew Dragon, marking the first time the US spacecraft has been carrying NASA astronauts to the ISS since 2011.

Behnken and Hurley's flight will usher in a new era for American space travel, helping NASA no longer rely on Russian launch systems to send astronauts into space. The event could turn the duo into the first people to fly on commercial spacecraft. To prepare for the flight, they have to go through a series of emergency procedures, comprehensive training with machinery on the Crew Dragon, try on a new space suit and meet SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Astronauts Behnken and Hurley.(Photo: Science Alert).

In 2018, NASA selected Behnken and Hurley for its mission to fly aboard the new SpaceX spacecraft. SpaceX develops the Crew Dragon spaceship under NASA's Commercial Crew program. This program is a competition between private companies to design and build astronaut vehicles. In total, NASA selected nine astronauts to conduct the first test flights on SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner.

Musk plans to bring Behnken and Hurley to the International Space Station (ISS) on the first ever test-driven flight of the Crew Dragon called Demo 2 between April and June of this year. Since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, this is the first time an American spacecraft has carried astronauts into space. Previously, NASA had to rent a Russian Soyuz ship but the cost of renting increased nearly four times after a decade. Each round-trip seat on Soyuz costs $ 85 million while the cost of flying on Crew Dragon is $ 55 million.

Behnken and Hurley have been working with SpaceX on the development of Crew Dragon since 2015, so they are fully equipped to control the ship. Both began their careers as military pilots. Harley has 24 years of experience as a pilot and fighter pilot in the US Marines with more than 5,500 hours flying on 25 different types of aircraft. Behnken is a test pilot of the US Air Force with more than 1,500 flight hours.

NASA recruited Behnken and Hurley as astronauts in 2000. They became friends when working together on the space shuttle program. Behnken has conducted two flights on space shuttle, spent 708 hours in space flight and made a total of 37 hours of space walk. Hurley also drove two space shuttles and spent 683 hours flying in space.

The two astronauts practiced evacuating from SpaceX's launch pad in the event of a dangerous incident before taking off. Behnken and Hurley shared that they were looking forward to trying out new space suits and returning to ISS.