A New Era In Human Spaceflight

NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, left, Victor Glover, second from left, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, second from right, and NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, right, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, wave as they walkout of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to depart for Launch Complex 39A to board the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft for the Crew-1 mission launch, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo: NASA


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Four astronauts successfully launched and docked to the International Space Station this week, flying on the first commercially designed and built spacecraft — SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.
The three NASA astronauts and one Japanese astronaut now join three already on board the station, bringing the total crew to seven. It’s the most crew for a long-duration operational flight.
So how did we get here? And what’s to come with NASA’s commercial partnerships? We’ll talk with Florida Today’s senior space reporter Emre Kelly about Commercial Crew and the future of public-private partnerships.
Then, as more and more astronauts head into orbit, what do we know about the impact of space travel on the human body? We’ll speak with Florida Space Institute associate scientist Dr. Esther Beltran about the impacts of microgravity on the human body and what those seven ISS astronauts are doing to keep healthy in space.
That’s ahead on Are We There Yet?, here on America’s Space Station.
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