The one bright spot in the news this weekend was the SpaceX launch, which was a huge success. What’s really cool about this is we have someone from right in our area that helped develop some emergency equipment that was used by NASA and the Air Force. In the event that the astronauts would have had to eject from the rocket, their capsule would splash down and they use a system developed by the company “Cubic” to find the capsule. My friend Dan, originally from Allegany NY, works at Cubic in San Diego and got a specific shout out from the Cubic CEO and president Brad Feldman on his work on that system!
Anyways if you missed anything from this crazy historic weekend here is a recap and some links. ENJOY!!
1. It launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Saturday afternoon, two days after it got delayed by weather. President Trump was there for it, and everything went as planned. (Here’s the footage. NASA also posted a pretty cool recap video.)
2. It’s the first time astronauts have launched from U.S. soil since 2011. And it’s the first time a private company has put someone into orbit. SpaceX founder Elon Musk called it the, quote, “first step on a journey toward a civilization on Mars.”
3. Apparently even NASA agrees AC/DC’s “Back in Black” is a good song to pump yourself up to. Before the launch, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley listened to it on their way to the rocket.
4. One of the coolest parts of the SpaceX rocket is that it’s reusable. Less than ten minutes after liftoff, the rocket booster landed on a platform in the middle of the ocean.
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5. Roughly five minutes after that, the astronauts hit orbit. It took another 19 hours to reach the Space Station. So they burned ten minutes livestreaming themselves showing off the inside of the capsule. (Here’s video.)
6. They docked with the Space Station yesterday morning.
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NASA posted footage of them entering through an airlock and hugging the other astronauts on board. They’ll be there at least five weeks. (Here’s the footage.)