America’s Return to Manned Space Flight

After nearly a decade, NASA once again launches American astronauts into orbit on an American spacecraft from American soil. The last time this happened was July 8, 2011 when NASA launched the final Space Shuttle mission (STS-135). NASA contracted SpaceX to launch the Crew Dragon atop a Falcon 9 booster from the Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39A. The mission, SpaceX Demo Mission 2, carried Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station. The launch occurred at 3:22 PM.

The weather today was not ideal, but better than it was on May 27, when the first attempt to launch was scrubbed with less than 17 minutes left on the clock. Even so, the range was go for launch. We decided to stay home and watch the launch from the back yard and on YouTube. When the clock reached T-30 seconds, we ran outside and waited for the glow. We briefly saw the rocket before it disappeared into the clouds.

NASA/SpaceX Demo Mission 2 crew patch

For the next 24 hours, we watched the live broadcast. At one point Bob and Doug were talking and said that, as the first crew aboard the Crew Dragon, they had the privilege to name the capsule. They chose “Endeavour” in honor of the retired Space Shuttle on which they both had their first space flights. After several tests, the Crew Dragon docked with the Space Station. They were greeted by the three astronauts who were currently on board.

The most memorable parts of the experience for me were the words of congratulations from various politicians, government employees, and members of the commercial space industry and the discussions about the NASA logo. Nearly all of them said basically the same phrase, which I repeated in the first paragraph: “…launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil…” Meanwhile, the commentators discussed which NASA logo they preferred; the "meatball" or the "worm". They asked social media users for their input and someone came up with a hybrid combination of the two logos.

Falcon 9 booster with the NASA "worm" logo

For more details, see the Wikipedia or the NASA web site.

Every time I hear the names “Bob and Doug”, I think of Bob and Doug McKenzie, who voiced the moose characters in the Disney movie, Brother Bear. Here is a clip from the movie.