the First launch of a spacecraft Crew Dragon with astronauts aboard the International space station (ISS) will be held on may 27, said on Twitter the head of NASA Jim Breidenstein. This will mean Russia’s loss of the monopoly on the delivery of people to the ISS that existed from July 2011, when the United States stopped using the shuttles Space Shuttle.
“on may 27, the U.S. astronauts once again will start the American rocket from American soil,” wrote the Manager.
the Launch of the Falcon 9 c Crew Dragon happens c spaceport at Cape Canaveral (USA). Aboard the Crew Dragon will be NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley. As noted by the U.S. space Agency, mission length will be determined later.
the First unmanned launch of Crew Dragon to ISS took place in March.
After the closure of the Space Shuttle the movement of people to the ISS was carried out exclusively by the Soviet-Russian triple disposable ships “Union TMA”, “Soyuz TMA-M” and “Soyuz MS”. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia and events in the South-East of Ukraine in 2014, the United States decided to intensify work on the creation of a private reusable spacecraft to deliver people to the ISS. NASA announced the winners of the relevant tender in the framework of the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) in September of the same year, the American companies Boeing and SpaceX.
currently, In addition to Russia, only China is delivering people into orbit. However, because of the sanctions Washington Beijing access to the ISS is limited.
