SpaceX splashdown - A first since 1968

For more than 50 years no spaceship with humans on board from the USA completed a mission, but a few days ago the private aerospace company “SpaceX” succeeded in landing a spaceship with four astronauts on board. This is the first time after 53 years a US American spaceship with astronauts landed on earth and a big step for US American aerospace.

The splashdown - What happened on the second of may

In November 2020 these astronauts started with a SpaceX mission named “Crew 1” to the International Space Station. Onboard were the astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi. On the second of May in 2021 the spaceship “Dragon”, which was designed and built by SpaceX, landed successfully in the Gulf of Mexico. This successful landing is the first completed mission with humans onboard the USA since 1986.

Bringing astronauts to the ISS and even further - is the USA standing on their own feet?

Until yet the USA and its space agency NASA relied on the Russian transportation spaceship to the ISS which is called “Sojus”. It also was the only opportunity on earth to get to the ISS. Now NASA is more independent and has the opportunity of getting to the ISS while using the “Dragon” Spaceship that gets produced by SpaceX. Important to know is that NASA although not depending on Russia but on SpaceX, a private aerospace company. Maybe this also signifies a change in how aerospace technology gets developed and financed. However, NASA is now an official partner of the private aerospace company SpaceX.

Next target: Mars - how SpaceX will bring humans to space in the future

After SpaceX announced that a third mission to the ISS is planned for October this year and finished a test landing of the new transportation system “Starship” successfully, many eyes are looking to Mars and asking the question how long it will take NASA and SpaceX to bring humans to Mars. Watching the actual development of aerospace technology and the rise of SpaceX it’s clear to see that we are moving forwards to the goal of getting multi-planetary.

---