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The Flight of Resilience

Crew-1,NASA,SpaceX
John Kraus
Erik Kuna
Tim Mele
November 17, 20205:00 PM UTC (UTC +0)

John Kraus for Supercluster

SpaceX and NASA have made history by launching the first operational crew rotation to the International Space Station aboard a privately-developed and operated spacecraft. The Crew-1 Dragon, named Resilience, successfully launched from Apollo 11 Pad 39A to orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket. Supercluster photographers John Kraus and Erik Kuna were on-site at Kennedy Space Center to capture the historic flight.

Crew-1 NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and JAXA's Soichi Noguchi lifted off on Sunday evening from Florida's Space Coast and arrived late Monday night at the Space Station. This is Glover's first flight to space and he's now the first black crew member to live and work aboard the ISS. Noguchi is the first international astronaut to fly on a U.S spacecraft since the STS-134 mission launched on Shuttle Endeavour in May 2011.

A Baby Yoda plush came along for the ride and worked as the zero-g indicator for the mission. Meaning if 'The Child' is floating, Dragon is in space. It's not known how Baby Yoda actually boarded Resilience but it's assumed that the stealthy SpaceX Ninjas (Jedi???) had something to do with it.

The crew is expected to spend six months on the orbiting laboratory, joining Expedition 64 Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA, and station Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos.

Because of the ISS, humans have sustained a 20-year uninterrupted presence in space.

John Kraus for Supercluster

John Kraus for Supercluster

John Kraus for Supercluster

John Kraus for Supercluster

John Kraus for Supercluster

SpaceX Ninjas Poster is now available in the shop

Erik Kuna for Supercluster

Erik Kuna for Supercluster

Erik Kuna for Supercluster

Erik Kuna for Supercluster

John Kraus for Supercluster

John Kraus for Supercluster

John Kraus for Supercluster

John Kraus for Supercluster

John Kraus for Supercluster

John Kraus
Erik Kuna
Tim Mele
November 17, 20205:00 PM UTC (UTC +0)