T+159: SpaceX Demo-2 Carries Crew to ISS

It happened! American astronauts on American rockets from American soil. Bob and Doug successfully launched, docked to the ISS, and joined Expedition 63. I talk about what this means for SpaceX, NASA, space policy, and where things go from here.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 37 executive producers—Brandon, Matthew, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, Grant, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Adam, and six anonymous—and 371 other supporters.

Topics

• NASA Astronauts Launch from America in Test of SpaceX Crew Dragon | NASA
• Station Welcomes First SpaceX Crew Dragon with Astronauts | NASA
• SpaceX DM-2 Launch! Hang out and watch the prep, launch, and early orbital operations. - YouTube
• Crew Demo 2 (Launch) - YouTube
• Crew Demo 2 (Approach and Docking) - YouTube
• Main Engine Cut Off on Twitter: “Fantastic clip, and a wonderful event from Dragon this morning”
• After troubled first flight, Boeing will refly Starliner without crew | Ars Technica
• Michael Baylor on Twitter: “SpaceX has been given NASA approval to fly flight-proven Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon vehicles during Commercial Crew flights starting with Post-Certification Mission 2, per a modification to SpaceX's contract with NASA.”
• Michael Sheetz on Twitter: “Axiom Space CEO Mike Suffredini said his company's private trip to the ISS with SpaceX is scheduled for October 2021, so Demo-2 helped ‘our customers know that it's going to be real.’ Axiom plans to announce the 3 passengers in a month or so.”
• Space Adventures Announces Agreement with SpaceX to Launch Private Citizens on the Crew Dragon Spacecraft - Space Adventures
• Current and former NASA leadership share credit for commercial crew - SpaceNews.com

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