CAPE CANAVERAL (WBAP/KLIF)- For the first time in almost 10 years American Astronauts will launch into space from American soil while on board an American spacecraft. Elon Musk’s SpaceX lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida Wednesday at about 3:33 PM CT. Veteran NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are set to make history, riding SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon Capsule.
Former NASA Engineer Suzy Fulton says its a bus-sized capsule and they’re going to be the first humans to ride on board a commercial shuttle service engineered by SpaceX. “It was designed with a lot of unique features because the ultimate goal is commercial space flight,” said Fulton.
Fulton said it has a lot of autonomous features and should dock at the International Space Station on its own.
“This is really just a test flight for NASA and Elon Musk,” said Fulton. “These pilots will be testing manual to make sure the controls work as they should if they do have to go manual but, they should dock at the ISS autonomously and they shouldn’t have to touch the controls,” said Fulton.
Fulton said this flight is one more step in the process in commercializing space travel.
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