NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told Newsmax TV on Tuesday that the agency’s cooperative shuttle launch with SpaceX will likely take place tomorrow, should weather permit, and that it marks an important moment for "American leadership in space."
Bridenstine told “Newsmax Now” that based on the weather, they were “showing about 60% favorability for launch tomorrow,” due to a chance of there being scattered thunderstorms near Kennedy Space Center, where the SpaceX rocket is set to launch. It will carry a Dragon capsule and two NASA astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, to the International Space Station.
This will mark the first launch from the location since the NASA shuttle program was retired in 2011, which led American astronauts to use Russian spacecraft to reach the ISS, launching from Kazakhstan.
“This is important,” Bridenstine said about the U.S. launching a space shuttle again. “This is about American leadership in space. The president committed, when he ran for president, that he would launch American astronauts again from American soil.”
He added that Trump has “been an amazing advocate for space in general, whether it’s exploration and discovery, or national security and defense,” such as his creation of the U.S. Space Force.
“But this is really about America leading, leading a coalition of nations not just in the lower orbit, which is what we’re doing tomorrow, but ultimately going all the way to the moon and on to Mars,” Bridenstine continued. “So, this is about American leadership, and the president really sees this as a part of the package of making America great again.”
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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