How SpaceX was able to send four astronauts to the ISS

Launch of SpaceX Crew-1

On November 16, 2020, SpaceX launched four astronauts into space from Kennedy Space Center to the ISS. The launch marks the first operational crewed flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft certified by the FAA and the first night launch from US soil since STS-130 in 2010. Now, you might be wondering why I put that obscure fact in. The launch marks a win for both SpaceX and NASA in multiple different aspects.

From 1981 to 2011, NASA had the shuttle program. The shuttle program was NASA's replacement for the Saturn Vs from the Apollo Era. NASA aimed at making spaceflight cheaper and more routine. During the almost 40 year span, NASA sent multiple missions into space to work on many things, including the International Space Station (ISS), the Hubble Telescope, and sending larger satellites out of Low Earth Orbit (LEO). However, the space shuttle program was only supposed to last 15 years but lasted 30. The program officially retired in 2011. There were many reasons why the program ended. One reason was it didn't make spaceflight that routine. It also costs a lot of money to run. Finally, the next program for NASA was overdue.

Last Launch of the Space Shuttle Program (STS-135)

Now you may be wondering, "it is 2020. How did we send US astronauts into space?". The answer is Roscosmos. Roscosmos is the Russian space agency. Roscosmos is an ally of NASA and helped them on many missions, including building the ISS. Following the end of the space shuttle program, NASA started to use the Soyuz rockets, the Roscosmos version of the space shuttle. While NASA was still able to send American astronauts into space, they were restricted by Roscosmos. The price to buy a seat was $90 million. Additionally, NASA could only send one astronaut at a time with two Roscosmos cosmonauts, and they couldn't bring all the equipment. In other words, NASA couldn't rely on Roscosmos and wanted to send American astronauts to the ISS. The answer to their question: SpaceX.

SpaceX was founded in 2002 by the tech-savvy Elon Musk. His goal was to reduce the cost of space transportation and eventually lead to the colonization of Mars. Over the years, SpaceX developed many rockets, rocket engines, and capsules for many different customers. One of their customers is NASA. It first started in 2006 when SpaceX had won a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Phase 1 contract. The contract aimed to show that private companies can deliver materials to the ISS. There was also an eventual option to transport crew to the ISS. The program's first demo flight was in December 2010 (COTS Demo Flight 1), and it was a success. The flight made SpaceX the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft. In May 2012 (COTS Demo Flight 2) and Dragon, the capsule that SpaceX designed was the first commercial capsule to dock with the ISS.

Dragon Delivering Supplies to the ISS

Following the success of COTS, NASA awarded SpaceX with many other contracts. One contract they won was the Commercial Resupply Services, a contract for SpaceX to deliver cargo and supplies to the ISS. However, the more exciting contract was the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program. The CCDev program was a program in which companies built spacecraft to deliver astronauts from US soil, which was last seen in 2011. Ultimately, NASA awarded the contract to two companies, SpaceX and Boeing

The program, which started in 2014, was NASA's answer to the Space Shuttle program's end. Both companies began working right away, testing and developing new solutions and trying to beat each other to the grand prize of launching astronauts to the ISS. Ultimately, SpaceX was able to beat Boeing to this milestone. Their first crewed launch was the Crew Demo-2 mission on May 30, 2020. The launch had 2 American astronauts, Bob Benkhen and Doug Hurley, launch from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida to the ISS. It was the first time in 9 years that American astronauts had launched from US soil. The Crew Demo-2 mission was a success.

Following the Crew Demo-2 Mission, there was the SpaceX Crew-1 mission. Before the mission, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified SpaceX for regular space flight, becoming the first company to achieve this. On November 16, 2020, four astronauts (three NASA Astronauts: Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker; one JAXA Astronaut: Soichi Noguchi) launched from KSC for the ISS. This is how we got to today. SpaceX was the first company to send astronauts to the ISS in just under two decades. The future is bright for them. However, many companies are challenging them, including Blue Origin, Boeing, and Virgin Galactic. Only time will tell which company will come out on top.

Crew of the SpaceX Crew-1 Mission
Pictured Left to Right: Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins, Soichi Noguchi

Sources:

“Crew Dragon Demo-2.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2020,en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crew_D ragon_Demo-2.

“Space Shuttle Program.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2020,en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_ Shuttle_program. 

“SpaceX Crew-1.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Nov. 2020,en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Crew -1. 

“SpaceX.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX.