https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/n...-iss-7r7ws8r98
Nasa ready to carry US flag back into orbit with SpaceX trip to ISS
It has been 39 years since America last launched astronauts on a test flight aboard its own newly built spacecraft. In three weeks’ time it will do so again, sending the
SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on its first crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and ending America’s reliance on Russia to act as its taxi driver.......
On May 27, Doug Hurley, 53, a US Marine Corps colonel, and Bob Behnken, 49, a US air force colonel, will be aboard as Crew Dragon is launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
“My heart is sitting right here and I think it’s going to stay there until we get Doug and Bob back,” said Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, gesturing to her throat. “I’m nervous now. There will be a little relief when they’re in orbit, more relief when they’re on station, and I will start sleeping again when they are back on the planet.”
Colonel Hurley said: “It’s the first flight with crew, the second flight of the vehicle. Statistics will tell you that’s riskier than the 15th or 20th.”
The need for attention to safety has been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic. The astronauts have been in a “quarantine bubble” for weeks, with only family members and mission-essential personnel allowed near them until they go into full isolation on May 16.
Mr Bridenstine has appealed to the public to stay at home for the launch — one of the most illustrious events on Nasa’s calendar in decades — mindful of the social distancing challenges for the hundreds of thousands expected to pack beaches and causeways.
But the sheriff of Brevard county, Wayne Ivey, urged crowds to come. “It’s another piece of great American history that’s happening right here in our back yard. We are not going to keep the great Americans that want to come watch that from coming,” he said. “If Nasa’s telling people to not come here and watch the launch, that’s on them. Nasa’s got their guidelines and I got mine.”