NASA and SpaceX combined the Crew Dragon launch.
                     NASA and SpaceX combined the 
Crew Dragon launch
Historic launch
For the first time in history, NASA astronauts have 
launched from American soil in a commercially, 
privately built and operated American crew 
spacecraft on its way to the International Space 
Station.
Source: Google Images
US Launch after several 
years
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying 
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas 
Hurley lifted off at 3:22 p.m. EDT Saturday on 
the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch 
Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center 
in Florida.
Source: Google Images
Demo-2
Known as NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2, the mission 
is an end-to-end test flight to validate the 
SpaceX crew transportation system, including 
launch, in-orbit, docking and landing 
operations. 
Source: Google Images
Commercial space flights
This is SpaceX’s second spaceflight test of its 
Crew Dragon and its first test with astronauts 
aboard, which will pave the way for its 
certification for regular crew flights to the 
station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew 
Program.
Source: Google Images
SpaceX
SpaceX, the private rocket company of 
billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, launched 
two Americans into orbit from Florida on 
Saturday in a landmark mission marking the 
first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from US soil 
in nine years.
Source: Google Images
“Let’s light this candle”
Just before liftoff, Hurley said, “SpaceX, we’re go 
for launch. Let’s light this candle,” paraphrasing 
the famous comment uttered on the launch pad in 
1961 by Alan Shepard, the first American flown 
into space.
Source: Google Images
Successful launch
Minutes after launch, the first-stage booster 
rocket of the Falcon 9 separated from the upper 
second-stage rocket and flew itself back to Earth 
to descend safely onto a landing platform floating 
in the Atlantic
Source: Google Images
Live coverage
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is scheduled 
to dock to the space station at 10:29 a.m. Sunday, 
May 31. NASA Television and the agency's website 
are providing ongoing live coverage of the Crew 
Dragon's trip to the orbiting laboratory.
Source: Google Images
Splashdown
At the conclusion of the mission, Behnken and 
Hurley will board Crew Dragon, which will then 
autonomously undock, depart the space station, 
and re-enter Earth's atmosphere. Upon 
splashdown off Florida's Atlantic coast, the crew 
will be picked up by the SpaceX recovery ship and 
returned to the dock at Cape Canaveral.
Source: Google Images