14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 JUNE 2020
EYEWITNESS
NASA/BILL INGALLS
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the
company's Crew Dragon spacecraft
is seen in this false color infrared
exposure as it is launched on NASA's
SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the
International Space Station with
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and
Douglas Hurley onboard, Saturday,
May 30, 2020, at NASA's Kennedy
Space Center in Florida.
The Demo-2 mission is the first launch
with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew
Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket
to the International Space Station as
part of the agency's Commercial Crew
Program.
The test flight serves as an end-to-
end demonstration of SpaceX's crew
transportation system.
Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22
p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from
Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy
Space Center.
A new era of human spaceflight is set
to begin as American astronauts once
again launch on an American rocket
from American soil to low-Earth orbit
for the first time since the conclusion
of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011.
A new era
of human
spaceflight
