Meet the First NASA Astronauts SpaceX Will Launch To Orbit (theverge.com) 23
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are about to star in the biggest spaceflight event of the decade: launching on the inaugural flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. For years, they've anticipated this moment, picturing throngs of people lined up on Florida's beaches to watch them ascend into the sky. Now, their launch will likely look very different, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grip the nation. That electric atmosphere they expected will mostly be absent for this monumental flight as NASA has urged spectators to watch the launch from home -- and it's what the two astronauts want, too.
Even though the atmosphere will be different, Hurley and Behnken, both longtime colleagues and friends, are still set to make history together when they board the Crew Dragon on May 27th. They'll be the first passengers that SpaceX has ever launched into space, and they'll also be the first people to launch to orbit from the United States since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. All of NASA's astronauts have had to fly on Russian rockets out of Kazakhstan for nearly the last decade. But thanks to a partnership with NASA, SpaceX is set to start launching the agency's astronauts from Florida once again with the Crew Dragon, beginning with Behnken and Hurley. "An invaluable part of their training is the fact that Behnken and Hurley have been good friends since they were first selected to be astronauts in 2000," adds The Verge. "In fact, they became so close that they were in each other's weddings when they each married fellow astronauts from that same class. They claim that their friendship provides a certain level of trust that only comes from years of knowing one another."
"We've worked together so long that there's a part of the training that we don't have to worry about," Behnken told The Verge last year, adding, "It is important for us. I already know what Doug's responses are going to be in a lot of different situations. I know if he's ahead or behind on whatever we're working on, in the same way that he knows that about me. That makes it a lot easier. Those aren't extra words I need to put into the communication. He can just glance at me and know what my status is."
Even though the atmosphere will be different, Hurley and Behnken, both longtime colleagues and friends, are still set to make history together when they board the Crew Dragon on May 27th. They'll be the first passengers that SpaceX has ever launched into space, and they'll also be the first people to launch to orbit from the United States since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. All of NASA's astronauts have had to fly on Russian rockets out of Kazakhstan for nearly the last decade. But thanks to a partnership with NASA, SpaceX is set to start launching the agency's astronauts from Florida once again with the Crew Dragon, beginning with Behnken and Hurley. "An invaluable part of their training is the fact that Behnken and Hurley have been good friends since they were first selected to be astronauts in 2000," adds The Verge. "In fact, they became so close that they were in each other's weddings when they each married fellow astronauts from that same class. They claim that their friendship provides a certain level of trust that only comes from years of knowing one another."
"We've worked together so long that there's a part of the training that we don't have to worry about," Behnken told The Verge last year, adding, "It is important for us. I already know what Doug's responses are going to be in a lot of different situations. I know if he's ahead or behind on whatever we're working on, in the same way that he knows that about me. That makes it a lot easier. Those aren't extra words I need to put into the communication. He can just glance at me and know what my status is."
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Looks like another with MDS (Musk Derangement Syndrome)...
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I approve of this username
Friendship a + or - on missions? (Score:2)
In traditional warfare, friendship, protecting those close to you instead of yourself is a foundational allegiance that motivates humans to act for the greater good in defiance of self-preservation instincts... it makes us more like bees and ants that men.
In reality, perhaps, it compromises judgement because of illogically predetermined bias.
Passengers? (Score:2)
They'll be the first passengers that SpaceX has ever launched into space, ...
A question on this wording. Does it mean that these two guys on board are not pilots but merely live cargo?
If they aren't pilots who has the flight controls?
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They're able to take full manual control if required (and have trained for this on SpaceX equipment), and they will test this capability out in orbit on this trip. Aside from that, the spacecraft is fully automatic, including the docking with the ISS.
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The spacecraft itself has the fine flight controls that don't allow for any lag, SpaceX and NASA the large-scale control like telling it where to go. The Dragon cargo capsule self-dock all the time.
Ave Musk, morituri te salutant. (Score:2)
Just saying.
Can't we have the first manned mission manned by a president?
Yeah, I'm dreaming, but truth be, chances are that having a fatal accident there are higher, than Trump being impeached even if an Eppstein equivalent "minor" scandal would come to light.
(* Hail Musk, those who are about to die salute you)
Will be interesting to see (Score:2)
Why not Musk? (Score:1)
I'd rather he put himself where his mouth is first. Get him drunk and bundle him into the rocket before he sobers up, I say.
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Unanticipated, indeed (Score:2)
When they came back from the Moon, they were quarantined just on the off chance that the Moon had some sort of pathogens in its dust that they tracked back with them. Of course that seems kind of crazy; but that was the level of precaution they took.
What kinds of precautions are they taking against the much more realistic possibility of astronauts infecting the station?
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Astronauts are kept in isolation in advance of launch.