NASA-SpaceX mission: Beginning of a new chapter in space exploration

In a historic mission, NASA on May 31 launched two of its American astronauts to the International Space Station with the help of its public-private partnership with SpaceX, owned by entrepreneur Elon Musk. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken andDouglas Hurley flew 400 km above the Earth to the world’s only space-based laboratory in SpaceX spaceship called Crew Dragon atop the Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. While there were certain uncertainties due to bad weather, the launch took place smoothly in the presence of US President Donald Trump and Vice President Michael Pence.

Being a crewed test flight, the mission has been called Demo-2. This space mission is significantly monumental for NASA following nine years of dry spell since 2011 when the Space Shuttle program was shut down after a series of unfortunate accidents. It is nearly after a decade that NASA has launched humans into the orbit from US soil.

After the landmark success of the mission, US President Donald Trump, who watched the launch live from Florida, told the reporters: "We once again proudly launched American astronauts on American rockets, from right here on American soil."

The mission also marks the beginning of a new era of space exploration for the United States in cooperation with commercial companies. With NASA'scollaboration with SpaceX and aerospace giant Boeing in space missions, private entities will be revolutionizing space explorations not just in the US, but also in other countries across the world.

“This is a dream come true for me and everyone at SpaceX,” Musk said after the launch.

Prior to this, NASA was seeking help from Russian spaceships to journey to the ISS which used to costs millions of dollars to the agency for each trip. Attempting to curtail the dependence on other countries, particularly Russian rockets,  to get their people to the ISS, NASA collaborated with private companies to build and operate cost-effective spaceships.

Speaking at the occasion, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said, "Today a new era in human spaceflight begins as we once again launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil on their way to the ISS, our national lab orbiting Earth."

It is important to note that the NASA-SpaceX joint mission will also lead to space research and exploration potentially becoming more collaborative endeavour than ever before with global space agencies sharing data and information and carrying out joint missions. With technological innovations and financial investments, it will be interesting to see how private players will benefit the space sector in the process.