It happened! American astronauts on American rockets from American soil. Bob and Doug successfully launched, docked to the ISS, and joined Expedition 63. I talk about what this means for SpaceX, NASA, space policy, and where things go from here.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 37 executive producers—Brandon, Matthew, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, Grant, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Adam, and six anonymous—and 371 other supporters.

Topics

NASA Astronauts Launch from America in Test of SpaceX Crew Dragon | NASA
Station Welcomes First SpaceX Crew Dragon with Astronauts | NASA
SpaceX DM-2 Launch! Hang out and watch the prep, launch, and early orbital operations. - YouTube
Crew Demo 2 (Launch) - YouTube
Crew Demo 2 (Approach and Docking) - YouTube
Main Engine Cut Off on Twitter: “Fantastic clip, and a wonderful event from Dragon this morning”
After troubled first flight, Boeing will refly Starliner without crew | Ars Technica
Michael Baylor on Twitter: “SpaceX has been given NASA approval to fly flight-proven Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon vehicles during Commercial Crew flights starting with Post-Certification Mission 2, per a modification to SpaceX's contract with NASA.”
Michael Sheetz on Twitter: “Axiom Space CEO Mike Suffredini said his company's private trip to the ISS with SpaceX is scheduled for October 2021, so Demo-2 helped ‘our customers know that it's going to be real.’ Axiom plans to announce the 3 passengers in a month or so.”
Space Adventures Announces Agreement with SpaceX to Launch Private Citizens on the Crew Dragon Spacecraft - Space Adventures
Current and former NASA leadership share credit for commercial crew - SpaceNews.com

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Music by Max Justus

T+159: SpaceX Demo-2 Carries Crew to ISS

Main Engine Cut Off

T+159: SpaceX Demo-2 Carries Crew to ISS