SpaceX reignites US with 1st crew launch in decade

Описание: (21 May 2020) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus136582

The two astronauts who will test drive SpaceX's brand new rocketship are classmates and friends, veteran spacefliers married to veteran spacefliers, and fathers of young sons.
Together, they will end a nine-year drought for NASA when they blast into orbit next week from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
Retired Marine Col. Doug Hurley will be in charge of launch and landing, a fitting assignment for the pilot of NASA's last space shuttle flight.
Air Force Col. Bob Behnken, a mechanical engineer with six spacewalks on his resume, will oversee rendezvous and docking at the International Space Station.
Hurley, 53, and Behnken, 49, are NASA's first test pilot crew in decades.
Their flight will mark the return of astronaut launches to the U.S., the first by a private company.
While SpaceX's Dragon crew capsule and its escape system have already been demonstrated in flight _ with mannequins _ there are no guarantees. In spaceflight, there never are.
Hurley and Behnken _ both two-time space shuttle fliers _ were among four astronauts chosen in 2015 for NASA's commercial crew program.
At the time, Behnken was serving as chief of NASA's astronaut corps and the only way to and from the space station was on Russian rockets.
All four trained on both SpaceX and Boeing's crew capsules, before NASA assigned Hurley and Behnken to Elon Musk's SpaceX, which soon surged ahead of Boeing in the race to fly first.  
That put Hurley ahead of his former shuttle commander, Chris Ferguson, now working for Boeing and assigned to the first Starliner capsule crew.

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