NASA astronauts preparing for historic SpaceX test flight, ‘Launch America’ set for May 27th

May 21, 2020 Michael US 0

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken, left, and Doug Hurley pose for a photo at a news conference after they arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, May 20, 2020. The two astronauts will fly on the SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station scheduled for launch on May 27. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

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UPDATED 6:30 AM PT — Thursday, May 21, 2020

Two veteran NASA astronauts are gearing up for a historic SpaceX test flight to the International Space Station. Retired Marine Colonel Doug Hurley and Air Force Colonel Bob Behnken held a video conference Wednesday to announce they will in embark on the Demo Two mission next week.

The pair will lift-off in a SpaceX crew dragon capsule on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This mission will mark the first time NASA astronauts will liftoff from American soil in nearly a decade.

Earlier today, @Astro_Doug & @AstroBehnken, bid farewell to Houston from Ellington Field bound for @NASAKennedy. They’ll be the 1st Americans to launch from U.S. soil to the @space_station since 2011 at 4:33 p.m. EDT on May 27.

For full video: https://t.co/W5MxVBYxhP pic.twitter.com/2mG3hop761

— Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) May 20, 2020

Hurley will take charge of the launch and landing, while Behnken oversees “rendezvous and docking on the ISS.”

“It’s exciting on so many levels, I think this this is a little bit more measured in a lot of ways,” stated Colonel Hurley. “Because, one, we’ve been to space before, but we’ve also worked a very, very long time in this collaboration with SpaceX to get to the launch pad.”

The crew is expected to remain in orbit between one and four months.