Elon Musk Gets Emotional After SpaceX Crew Dragon Launch, Recounts 18 Year Struggle
Elon Musk was overwhelmed with emotions upon the successful launch.
In case you were living under a rock or something, yesterday SpaceX successfully accomplished its Crew Dragon mission of carrying astronauts aboard the Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station -- the first-ever private space agency in the world to do so.
SpaceX
Elon Musk was overwhelmed with emotions upon the successful launch as well as docking of the Crew Dragon capsule, which was later renamed by the astronauts as Endeavour.
In a press conference at NASA¡¯s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, he said in a statement, "I'm really quite overcome with emotion on this day, so it's kind of hard to talk, frankly. It's been 18 years working towards this goal, so it's hard to believe that it's happened."
This was the first manned space flight conducted on the US soil in nine years. The launch took place at Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida from launchpad 39A -- the same launchpad from which Apollo astronauts blasted off to go to the moon.
Reuters
He added, expressing the success of his 18 year-long journey, stating, "United States is the distillation of the human spirit of exploration. I think this is something that's particularly important in the United States but appeals to everyone throughout the world who has within them the spirit of exploration. This is something that I think humanity should be excited about proud of occurring on this day."
This was the first manned space flight conducted on the US soil in nine years. The launch took place at Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida from launchpad 39A -- the same launchpad from which Apollo astronauts blasted off to go to the moon.
The rocket was launched into space using a Falcon-9 rocket, which landed back to Earth after completing the first stage of the launch.
He concluded stating, ¡°It is a craft made by humans, for humans. This is something humanity should be excited about, should be proud of, occurring on this day.¡±
SpaceX/NASA
Aboard the Endeavour were 49-year-old Robert Behnken and 53-year-old Douglas Hurley. The astronauts have joined the three-member crew of ISS Expedition 63 and are expected to stay anywhere between a month to four months on the ISS.
The duration of their stay isn¡¯t certain for now as it will depend on the condition of the Crew Dragon spacecraft in orbit as well as the Crew Dragon that will conduct another Crew-1 mission, slated for August 30.
