'NASA was a disaster before us': Trump takes credit as SpaceX & astronauts liftoff for ISS

On Sunday, X launched four astronauts to International Station (ISS) on first full-fledged taxi flight for NASA by a private company.  Falcon rocket thundered into night from Kennedy Center with three Americans and one Japanese, second crew to be launched by X.

Dragon capsule on top — named Resilience by its crew in light of this year’s many challenges, most tably COVID-19 — was due to reach station late Monday and remain re until spring.   launch event was attended by Vice President Mike Pence and his wife as well as NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.

'NASA was a closed up disaster when we took over'

After launch, United States President Donald Trump took to Twitter and congratulated ncy. However, he ended up taking credit for NASA's success. "A great launch! NASA  was a closed up disaster when we took over. w it is again “hottest”, most advanced, centre in world, by far!" he said. This 'self-congratulated' tweet by Trump has irked several social media users. 

Sidelined by virus himself, X founder and chief executive Elon Musk was forced to monitor action from afar, reported Associated Press. He tweeted that he “most likely” had a moderate case of COVID-19. NASA policy at Kennedy Center requires anyone testing positive for Coronavirus to quarantine and remain isolated. 

Sunday’s launch follows by just a few months X’s two-pilot test flight. It kicks off what NASA hopes will be a long series of crew rotations between U.S. and station, after years of delay.

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With COVID-19 still surging, NASA continued safety precautions put in place for X’s crew launch in May. astronauts went into quarantine with ir families in October. All launch personnel wore masks, and number of guests at Kennedy was limited. Even two astronauts on first X crew flight stayed behind at Johnson Center in Houston.

four astronauts will be joining two Russians and one American who flew to station last month from Kazakhstan. station soared over launch site a mere half-minute before liftoff.

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(With ncy inputs)