scienceUpdated: Nov 17, 2020, 02:23 ISTFour astronauts are cruising to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX capsule in the company’s first regular Nasa mission to the facility. The Dragon was performing as expected in orbit and would approach the station and dock as programmed, said Kathy Lueders, the Nasa associate administrator. The Crew-1 mission marks a crucial milestone in the development of a space industry in which private-sector companies provide business and tourism services in low-earth orbit. Following the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, Nasa awarded Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Boeing nearly $7 billion in contracts to build new transport systems to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew programme. The latest launch occurred 18 years after Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies with the ultimate goal of populating other planets.

Source: Hindustan Times November 16, 2020 20:36 UTC