The rocket vehicle, manufactured by Elon Musk's SpaceX company, successfully sent two NASA astronauts from Florida to orbit Saturday, heading towards the International Space Center (ISS). This is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of commercial space travel.
The launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center is also important because it is the first time in nearly a decade that humans have been sent into orbit from the US soil.
The SpaceX crew Dragon spacecraft, carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken (49) and Dog Hurley (53), flew from the launch complex of NASA's Kennedy Space Center via the company's Falcon 9 rocket at 3.22 pm.
With this launch, SpaceX became the first private company to have sent humans into orbit. Before this, only three governments - America, Russia and China - have achieved this feat.
The reusable, gumdrop (candy)-shaped vehicle is named Crew Dragon, which will now take American astronauts on a 19-hour journey to the International Space Center. The spacecraft will be on the ISS at 10.29 am on Sunday.
This successful launch has brought joy to America, which has lost more than one lakh countrymen in the last three months due to Corona virus. Earlier last week, the launch was postponed due to bad weather.
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