SpaceX's Dragon Marks Three Years Since First Manned Mission That Elon Musk Said Was 'Dream Come True'

Elon Musk‘s SpaceX has completed three years since its first crewed spaceflight known as the SpaceX Demo-2 mission.

What Happened: On May 30, 2020, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley lifted off to the International Space Station at 3:22 p.m. EDT aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The Falcon 9 launch took place from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The flight- also the crew dragon’s final test flight- marked the first time in history that NASA astronauts launched to space on a commercial spacecraft. It was also the first launch of NASA astronauts to space from the U.S. since 2011 when the space shuttle retired.

Former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine termed the launch a demonstration of American excellence and an important step towards expanding human exploration to the Moon and Mars.

“This is a dream come true for me and everyone at SpaceX," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had said.

The two astronauts returned to Earth 64 days later in August.

Why It Matters: Last week, SpaceX launched Axiom Space‘s Ax-2 mission to the ISS. The mission marked the Dragon's 10th human spaceflight with the four-member crew aboard a Dragon spacecraft named Freedom.

After ten days in orbit, the spacecraft undocked from the space station at 11:05 a.m. ET on Tuesday and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere around twelve hours later.

SpaceX has launched 234 times in total till now. The Dragon, meanwhile, has launched 40 times and visited the space station 35 times now. 

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