Published 03:36 IST, May 31st 2020
Biden lauds NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon launch, says Obama 'planted seeds' of historic mission
The only Democratic presidential candidate in US for 2020 elections and former US Vice President Joe Biden hailed the NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon launch on May 30.
The only Democratic presidential candidate in US for 2020 elections and former Vice President of the country Joe Biden hailed the NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon launch on May 30 but shifted credit to former US President Barack Obama's policies. As America launched US astronauts from American turf for the first time in nine years, Biden said that the US has “reshaped the future of space travel”. The former US Vice President also said that US astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken have added their names to the “long list of heroes” as the blasted off on commercially built Crew Dragon on Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Centre’s launch pad 39A. This is also the first time a private company like SpaceX is allowed to ‘run the show’ of a NASA’s program, and Biden called it “pioneering new phase”.
Biden said, “Their [Hurley & Behnken] voyage not only marks the return of American astronauts travelling to space from US soil but a pioneering new phase of public-private cooperation for the peaceful exploration of space.”
‘Obama and I fought hard’
After lauding the entire mission, Biden also ‘congratulated’ the entire team at NASA and SpaceX who ensured a “victory for American innovation” as well as its persistence. Since the design of Crew Dragon capsule was started from the scratch 12 years ago, former US Vice President noted that the work began years ago when he, along with former US President Barack Obama, “fought hard” to make a reality.
Biden’s statement came after NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine hailed US President Donald Trump as “best President” since John F Kennedy “when it comes to space exploration”. However, Biden took back to the “seeds” of the current historic mission and credited the Obama administration for “planting them” in the first place with its policies.
Former US Vice President said, “This mission represents the culmination of work begun years ago, and which President Obama and I fought hard to ensure would become a reality. We planted the seeds of today’s success during the 2009 Recovery Act”.
The 'historic' NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule blasted off from Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Pad 39A on May 30 at 3:22pm EDT to the International Space Station from the American turf for the first time in nine years. Even though the unfavourable weather conditions and fear of thunderstorms caused some delay on May 27 in the ‘#LaunchAmerica’ program, both NASA and Space X made a significant leap three days later towards the ‘revolutionization’ of commercial space travel. Space veterans Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken rode off the capsule on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from the launch pad which was used by the Apollo Moon missions nearly half a century ago.
Image Source: AP
Updated 03:36 IST, May 31st 2020