From zero to Hero: SpaceX First Private Company to Launch Astronauts to the International Space Station

 From zero to hero in 18 years.

SpaceX was an industry joke for many years. Eighteen years later, it is the first private company to launch astronauts to the International Space Station.

Today, SpaceX's Crew Dragon launched NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS. Crew Dragon’s trip from Earth to orbit represents just ~12 minutes of ~20-hour journey to the International Space Station (ISS) and a full 1-3+ months the spacecraft and its NASA astronauts will spend in space.

The reusable first stage of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket safely made it back to the surface as well, landing on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” — the space company’s signature move.

SoaceX has taken astronauts, not just for a poke above the Karman line (the arbitrary line at 62 miles that divides the stratosphere from space) as Virgin Galactic has done, but much deeper into orbit, some 220 miles to the International Space Station. A feat that requires not only much higher altitude but a precise rendezvous with an object moving at over 17,000 miles per hour. In addition, this launch marks a huge milestone for US Spaceflight, as the US has now rectified the embarrassing fact that it has had no way of transporting its astronauts to space without relying on the Russian Federation. A circumstance that has persisted since the Space Shuttle program was retired in 2011.

Caption Credit InScience