The last time astronauts flew from the United States to the International Space Station was nine years ago, and since then this has only been possible via Russia. With a private company, Nasa has now tested it again for the first time - and was successful in the second attempt.
Cape Canaveral (dpa) - For the first time in nine years, astronauts have again started from the USA to the ISS space station - and for the first time they started with the help of a private space company.
US space travelers Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley took off from Cape Canaveral in a "Crew Dragon" space capsule with a "Falcon 9" rocket on Saturday, as live images by the US space agency Nasa showed. "We are off the hook," said NASA via short message service Twitter. "History has been written."
NASA boss Jim Bridenstine spoke of a "wonderful day". US President Donald Trump celebrated the start as a "heroic act". Commercial space travel is the future. "A new era of American ambition has just started."
SpaceX founder Elon Musk was deeply moved. "I'm really emotionally overwhelmed, it's difficult for me to speak," said Musk at a press conference after the start. He had worked towards this goal for 18 years. "I think it is something that mankind can look forward to and be proud of." The German astronaut Alexander Gerst welcomed his two space travel colleagues via Twitter "welcome back to space" and congratulated SpaceX for the "solid performance".
On Sunday, the astronauts Behnken and Hurley should dock with the ISS and stay around a month. A first attempt to start was canceled on Wednesday due to bad weather conditions about a quarter of an hour before the start. Even before the second attempt, the conditions initially looked only moderate, but then the clouds cleared in time and the control center gave the green light: "Let's light this candle!" It was an honor for them, said Behnken from the "Crew Dragon" and showed the thumbs up together with Hurley. "We'll speak to you again from space." The "LaunchAmerica" test was eagerly awaited worldwide.
Shortly after the successful launch of "Crew Dragon", the first rocket stage landed safely upright on the ship "Of Course I Still Love You" (in German, for example: Of course I still love you) in the Atlantic Ocean off the US coast. The landing and reuse of rocket stages and space capsules is an important part of the strategy of the private space company SpaceX. Rocket tiers have landed several times on ships and on land.
"LaunchAmerica" is the last flight test for the "Crew Dragon" developed by SpaceX. SpaceX had previously only transported cargo to the ISS. Because of the corona pandemic, access to the Florida Spaceport site, where visitors are normally allowed to watch launches, was severely restricted. US President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had arrived.
The last time astronauts flew to the ISS in summer 2011 was on the "Atlantis" space shuttle. The US space agency Nasa then mothballed its space shuttle fleet for cost reasons and has since been dependent on Russia for flights to the ISS. At around 80 million euros per flight in a Russian Soyuz capsule, this was not only expensive, but also scratched the ego a lot.
In fact, NASA's own flights from the USA to the ISS had already been announced for 2017 - due to technical problems, financing difficulties and restructuring after Trump's election as president, the project was postponed.
It is currently difficult times for the United States, said Nasa boss Bridenstine. The country is particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and there are currently mass protests following the death of an African American in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis. He hoped, said Bridenstine, that the successful start "gives everyone the opportunity to think about humanity".
Tweet from Alexander Gerst
