Rocketing toward history: Why spaceflight still captivates America

While most earthly attention has been on the pandemic over the past few months, NASA and SpaceX have been taking steps toward what could be the next great leap for humankind. 

Two astronauts are set to blast off from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, May 27, as a final test of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. If the mission is successful, it will be a big moment for the American space program – both private and governmental. It will be SpaceX’s first launch with a crew on board, and the first time humans have launched into orbital space from U.S. soil since NASA’s Space Shuttle program ended in 2011. Since then, American astronauts have traveled to the International Space Station aboard Russian spacecraft.

Balancing risks and rewardsThe allure of human spaceflight