'Heard that rumble before, but it's different when your team is on the rocket': NASA chief

After NASA-SpaceX's Crew Dragon mission made the ‘historic’ liftoff into space, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said that he is “so proud” of the entire team that worked behind the mission of sending off US astronauts from American turf for the first time in nine years. When asked what was on his mind while he was watching the Falcon 9 take Crew Dragon capsule off into space, the NASA chief admitted that he was “praying” for both the safety of the crew and their families. 

He was even ‘praying’ for their safe-return even though the astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, will spend about 19 hours in the spacecraft as it travels toward the ISS. Bridenstine said that he has heard that “rumble” before but it is “whole different feeling” when its “your own team” in the rocket. He also said that “this is Launch America, this is everything that America has to offer in its purest form”.

Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has landed back on the earth and US astronauts Hurley and Behnken are now in the orbit. After entering the space, Doug even thanked the crew members for Falcon’s “incredible flight to space". The NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule blasted off from Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Pad 39A on May 30 at 3:22pm EDT (12:52 am, May 31 in India).

Read - NASA-SpaceX Mission: Falcon 9 Returns To Earth After Dropping Crew Dragon Off In Orbit

Read - NASA-SpaceX's Crew Dragon Makes 'history-making' Liftoff Into The Space

‘Herculean task’

Earlier, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine had lauded the entire launch as a “herculean task” and called it a “monumental achievement”. It was also revealed that the designing of the SpaceX Dragon capsule was started from scratch at least 12 years ago to travel to the Space Station. Bridenstine said that NASA let the “commercial industry innovate” and that led to solutions that were ‘undreamed of before’. According to the NASA Administrator, that aspect remains the ‘real success’ of the #LaunchAmerica.

70-30 launch

NASA was previously looking at a 50 per cent chance of the weather being in a favourable condition on May 30 for the rescheduled NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon launch. However, even though the latest weather update stated there was a 70 per cent chance of good weather, the Crew Dragon mission proceeded as planned. After millions were disappointed with poor atmospheric conditions forcing the historic ‘Launch America’ mission to be aborted on May 27, the chances of the launch being successful on Saturday had remained equally grim until the latest weather clearance.

Read - Trump 'hopes' For Successful 'take 2' Of SpaceX-NASA's Crew Dragon Launch

Read - NASA-SpaceX Launch: Hatch Of Crew Dragon Capsule Closes Ahead Of Schedule

Image Source: AP