Return to Orbit

Yesterday was a momentous day for the United States. 

Falcon-9 Dragon Space Launch
May 30, 2020

For the first time since the last Space Shuttle flight humans were launched into orbit from the United States. The last space shuttle flight was the Space Shuttle Atlantis from July 8-21, 2011. Since that flight and until yesterday, the United States did not have the capability to launch humans into space--only Russia and China had that capability. All of the U.S. astronauts who had flown to the International Space Station during that period rode into space aboard a Russian Soyuz space booster. 

It was exciting to watch the most sophisticated human space flight vehicle in the world take off from Cape Canaveral. The 9-year hiatus is over! The United States is no longer dependent upon Russia to place U.S. astronauts into space. 

It is something to cheer as we face the coronavirus and the protests over the wrongful death of George Floyd. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD