The United States will no longer need to rely on Russia to send astronauts into space. On Tuesday (November 10), NASA certified SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket to ferry astronauts between Earth and space. The last craft to be approved by NASA for human spaceflight was the space shuttle nearly 40 years ago.
"I'm extremely proud to say we are returning regular human spaceflight launches to American soil on an American rocket and spacecraft," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. "This certification milestone is an incredible achievement from NASA and SpaceX that highlights the progress we can make working together with commercial industry."
SpaceX successfully carried two astronauts to the International Space Station using the Crew Dragon spacecraft on May 30. It marked the first time that a commercial aerospace company put humans into space and was the first time since 2011 that the United States sent Americans to space without the help of the Russian government.
The two astronauts returned to Earth on August 2, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico in the Crew Dragon module.
"Thank you to NASA for their continued support of SpaceX and partnership in achieving this goal," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said. "I could not be more proud of everyone at SpaceX and all of our suppliers who worked incredibly hard to develop, test, and fly the first commercial human spaceflight system in history to be certified by NASA. This is a great honor that inspires confidence in our endeavor to return to the Moon, travel to Mars, and ultimately help humanity become multi-planetary."
NASA and SpaceX are planning another launch this weekend to send three Americans and one Japanese astronaut to the International Space Station for six months.
"Certification moves us from the design and test phase into the crew rotation phase of our work, but we will not stop making sure every flight, including NASA's Space Crew-1 mission, will be approached with the same rigor we have put into making this the best system it can be for our astronauts," Kathy Lueders, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operation Mission Directorate, said.
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