NASA's SpaceX Joint Commercial Rocket Flight To The ISS

Astronaut Crew-1 (doc. NASA)

JAKARTA - SpaceX, in collaboration with NASA, is preparing to launch a Crew Dragon rocket at the International Space Station (ISS). This mission marks the first commercial flight into space.

Quoted from Space, Sunday, November 15, the launch this time is the fruit of the success of Elon Musk's company in commercial flights into space. After successfully sending two NASA astronauts to the ISS using the Crew Dragon capsule on May 30.

🚀 We're sending four astronauts to the @Space_Station on a US rocket from US soil at 7:27 pm ET on Sunday, Nov. 15. Here's how you can watch our #LaunchAmerica coverage: https://t.co/PTHOoEbLO0 pic.twitter.com/V2MNT2aWCQ

- NASA (@NASA) November 14, 2020

The mission, called Crew-1, will include NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. This is the second time SpaceX and NASA have sent astronauts into space.

"We are ready for this launch. We are ready for the six months of work waiting for us on the International Space Station, and we are ready to return," NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins.

Given that the launch of this space mission was carried out during a pandemic. The four astronauts have been undergoing quarantine and medical examinations that were carried out since 31 October.

Mission Crew-1 will ride the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and will take off at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch is scheduled for 7:49 p.m. local time, with an estimated travel time to reach the ISS in 8.5 hours later.

This expedition will last until April 18, 2021. There the astronauts will carry out a number of tasks on the scientific instruments on the space station.

The SpaceX and Crew-1 commercial rocket launches will be streamed live on NASA TV's YouTube channel. This flight is Crew Dragon's first operational mission using rockets and the first commercial spacecraft designed by SpaceX to carry astronauts to the ISS.