SpaceX launch of NASA astronauts tonight is 'a new era in spaceflight'

NASA and SpaceX are preparing for an historic moment tonight as they launch the first crewed spacecraft to take off from American soil in almost a decade.

The US space agency has sent two of its top astronauts to crew the mission from its Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A successful mission will end the US space agency's nine-year hiatus in human spaceflight, and mark a pivotal moment in the commercial space race.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will journey to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday in a milestone mission.

They will be on board on Elon Musk's SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, blasted into space by a Falcon 9 rocket built by the billionaire tech entrepreneur's company.

The astronauts will blast off at an extraordinary time in history, as they leave behind a locked-down world in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is not only the first manned mission for US astronauts since the US Space Shuttle was retired over a decade ago.

Tonight's launch is also SpaceX's first-ever crewed mission in the company's 18-year-history.

'Demo-2' will be an experimental flight for the crew, as they become the first humans to fly aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.

"This is a new generation, a new era in spaceflight,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told media.

Crew Dragon is completely autonomous, and the experienced astronauts have said its self-flying capabilities have given them some peace of mind

"You're more of a monitor of all the systems and you're not using all your brain power to actually fly the vehicle," Hurley told CNN.  

He added: "the vehicle has manual capability in several phases, and we will certainly test that out."

The ground-breaking rocket launch has come at a challenging time.

The milestone mission's final stages were carried out by experts who had to complete their tasks while following Covid-19 social distancing measures.

US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will view the launch in person, a White House spokesman said.

Crowds are expected to pack the coastal state's beaches, parking lots and roads to watch lift-off, despite the coronavirus threat.

Authorities told local media law enforcement will be out reminding people to follow social distancing guidelines- but they have warned they expect big gatherings piling out to watch the historic event.

If Musk can successfully pull off sending a crewed rocket to the ISS tonight it will be a milestone for the Tesla CEO in the private space race.

His goal is to develop capsules that can transport astronauts to the space station.

NASA awarded multibillion dollar contracts to both SpaceX and Boeing to develop space capsules as part of its Commercial Crew Program, launched in 2010.

For Musk, SpaceX and NASA, a safe flight would mark a milestone in the quest to produce reusable spacecraft that can make space travel more affordable - and become another step toward space tourism ambitions.

NASA, hoping to stimulate a commercial space marketplace, awarded billions apiece to SpaceX and aerospace giant Boeing to develop dueling space capsules, experimenting with a contract model that allows the space agency to buy astronaut seats from the two companies.

Boeing's CST-100 Starliner capsule is not expected to launch its first crew until 2021.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine declared tonight's mission a "go" last week at Kennedy Space Center after space agency and SpaceX officials convened for final engineering checks.

SpaceX successfully tested Crew Dragon without astronauts last year in its first orbital mission to the space station.

That vehicle was destroyed the following month during a ground test when one of the valves for its abort system burst, causing an explosion that triggered a nine-month engineering investigation that ended in January.

Fellow billionaire Sir Richard Branson is also on a mission to establish a space tourism market.

The Virgin travel mogul's ambitions in a separate satellite-launch venture this.

Branson's aim is to ferry into space, but the Virgin travel mogul's separate ambitions in satellite-launch ventures suffered a hitch this week.

Branson's Virgin Orbit failed in its attempts to launch a rocket into orbit during its debut test flight.

It is currently unclear exactly what went wrong - though the firm had warned the likelihood of success was just 50:50 prior to the attempted take off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California on Monday.

Musk offered condolences on Twitter, writing: "Sorry to hear that. Orbit is hard. Took us four attempts with Falcon 1."

When is the rocket launching?

Tonight's lift-off is scheduled for 4:33 p.m. EDT (2033 GMT) on Wednesday from the same launch pad used by NASA's last space shuttle mission in 2011, before the spacecraft was retired.

The mission is weather dependent, and a decision is expected to be made in coming hours on the blast-off after concerns overnight about unfavourable weather conditions.

Read more about where you can view the rocket from the UK tonight here.