Got my badge! So excited to be joining #LaunchAmerica virtual NASA Social and watching NASA, SpaceX, and American history on May 27, 2020 #SpaceX #CrewDragon Dragon#NASASocial
About this official Virtual NASA Social information:
“As we prepare for SpaceX’s first crewed test flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and the first time we’ve launched American astronauts from American soil since the end of the space shuttle era in 2011, we are inviting the public to come along for the ride — virtually.
On Wednesday, May 27, 4:33 p.m. EDT, NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission will launch from Launch Complex 39A at agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch Crew Dragon, with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley aboard the spacecraft. It is the final test flight of the system before SpaceX is certified to carry out operational crew flights to and from the International Space Station for NASA.
While we cannot invite the public onsite for one of our usual NASA Social events because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are excited to present an opportunity for people of all ages from all over the world to participate in. This will be our very first global virtual NASA Social.
The #LaunchAmerica NASA Social is taking the form of a Facebook group that any social media user can request permission to join by answering a few simple questions and agreeing to adhere to the guidelines of the group.
NASA Social participants will have the opportunity to:
– Connect virtually with a community of people excited about the #LaunchAmerica mission
– Receive a NASA Social badge that you can share online or print out at home
– Virtually tour NASA facilities at Kennedy Space Center
– Interact with NASA representatives in real time
– Virtually view a launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
NASA Social registration for the Crew Dragon launch opens on Facebook on May 13. All social applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Virtual tours will begin two days prior to the launch (May 25 to May 27).
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley entered quarantine Wednesday, May 13, in preparation for their upcoming flight to the International Space Station on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission. They’ll lift off aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carried by the company’s Falcon 9 rocket two weeks later at 4:33 pm Eastern Wednesday, May 27, from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, people all over the world recently have experienced varying degrees of quarantine – a period of isolation from others to prevent the spread of contagious illness. However, for crews getting ready to launch, “flight crew health stabilization” is a routine part of the final weeks before liftoff for all missions to the space station.
Behnken and Hurley will be the first American astronauts to fly to the station aboard an American spacecraft launched from American soil since the retirement of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. The Demo-2 flight is an end-to-end test of SpaceX’s crew transportation system, part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. They’ll meet up with the Expedition 63 crew already in residence aboard the orbiting laboratory: NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.” (https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2020/05/13/spacex-demo-2-crew-members-enter-preflight-quarantine/)