Ready, Set, Launch! Astronauts will launch from Kennedy Space Center in May aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — At noon on Friday, April 17, The National Aeronautics and Space Administrations announced that astronauts will be launched to space from U.S. soil, again.

NASA is teaming up with SpaceX to launch a Crew Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on May 27, 2020 at 4:32 p.m. ET.

Aboard the first test flight of Crew Dragon 2 will be astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. They will launch to the International Space Station.

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“I think this will go down as a monumental moment in the history of space travel, right up there with Alan Shepherd’s Freedom 7 flight, the Saturn V and Apollo 11 making the moon, and the first Space Shuttle launch. There had a been a void since the last Space Shuttle launch in 2011, and what makes this historic, is the partnership of NASA and SpaceX (public and private) to bring the next phase of our journey to reality. And I think this launch means so much more than just getting American astronauts back to the ISS from American soil. It is the beginning, the first big step, in going back to the moon and getting mankind to Mars. It’s truly is an exciting time, and our Space Coast is at the epicenter of that activity,” explained our very own Meteorologist Rusty McCranie, who is also our Space expert at Severe Weather Center 9.

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This mission marks the return of humans to space from American soil and the very first launch of American astronauts from American soil, on an American rocket and spacecraft. The last time humans launched from American soil was on July 8th, 2011, on the final Space Shuttle Mission.

This is exciting news, especially for our Space Coast. The launch is scheduled to happen from Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A.

Find out more about the mission, here

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