{"id":17710,"date":"2020-05-20T17:38:37","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T09:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/astronauts-arrive-in-florida-to-set-new-nasa-traditions-for-crewed-spaceflight\/"},"modified":"2020-05-20T17:38:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T09:38:37","slug":"astronauts-arrive-in-florida-to-set-new-nasa-traditions-for-crewed-spaceflight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/astronauts-arrive-in-florida-to-set-new-nasa-traditions-for-crewed-spaceflight\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronauts arrive in Florida to set new NASA traditions for crewed spaceflight"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_564607\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-564607\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-564607\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/200520-astronauts2-630x312.jpg\" alt=\"NASA astronauts Behnken and Hurley\" width=\"630\" height=\"312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/200520-astronauts2-630x312.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/200520-astronauts2-768x381.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/200520-astronauts2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-564607\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley take questions from journalists after their arrival at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Two NASA astronauts landed at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida today to go through a set of pre-launch traditions that haven\u2019t been followed for nearly nine years \u2014 and create a few new traditions as well.<\/p>\n<p>When Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken walked out of a NASA Gulfstream jet and met the press, they began a routine that\u2019s due to climax next week with the first orbital launch from U.S. soil since the space shuttle fleet\u2019s retirement in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket is due to loft their commercial Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station a week from today. But first, they\u2019ll participate remotely in a flight readiness review on Thursday, and then go through an in-person launch rehearsal at historic Launch Complex 39A on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ll also spend relaxation time with their families at Kennedy Space Center\u2019s Beach House, a retreat that\u2019s been used by NASA astronauts since the 1960s.<\/p>\n<p>Hurley \u2014 who\u2019ll be the spacecraft commander on the Crew Dragon \u2014 acknowledged that the coronavirus outbreak has thrown \u201ca huge wrinkle\u201d into preparations for the upcoming demonstration mission, known as Demo-2 or DM-2.<\/p>\n<p>The astronauts and their families have been going through stricter-than-usual quarantine procedures to minimize the risk of catching&nbsp; COVID-19. Some of the training sessions had to be recast as virtual rather than in-person experiences.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 crew arrive in Florida ahead of launch\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jbjccObZKEs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Hurley marveled at how quickly and how well the NASA and SpaceX teams have adjusted to the changed circumstances. \u201cThere have been so many things over the course of the last several years that have amazed me, but that certainly is high on the list,\u201d he told the mask-wearing journalists who gathered on the runway for today\u2019s arrival ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and KSC director Bob Cabana wore masks when they greeted the astronauts and observed social distancing guidelines during the news briefing that followed.<\/p>\n<p>Bridenstine asked the astronauts about any new traditions they\u2019re creating to mark a new era of American spaceflight \u2014 an era that\u2019s no longer limited to Russian Soyuz spacecraft for rides to orbit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe feel somewhat responsible to continue some of these really neat traditions that both the Soyuz crews have had for many years, and the shuttle crews have had,\u201d Hurley said, \u201cand then maybe come up with a few of our own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said he and Behnken drew upon their test pilot experiences with \u201ctagging,\u201d and slapped a sticker for their DM-2 mission on their Crew Dragon spacecraft simulator in Houston at the end of their final proficiency training session on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Behnken said he adapted a pre-launch tradition that\u2019s followed by spacefliers at Russia\u2019s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and planted a tree with his family in Houston during a private ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy son will always have that lemon tree that he was a part of planting,\u201d Behnken said. \u201cHopefully it makes it through Houston\u2019s hot summer this year and becomes a tradition for some other folks as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The original version of this report referred to an outdated video about a launch-pad tour given by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley take questions from journalists after their arrival at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA Photo) Two NASA astronauts landed at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida today to go through a set of pre-launch traditions that haven\u2019t been followed for nearly nine years \u2014 and create a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[235,717,190,316],"class_list":["post-17710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crew-dragon","tag-international-space-station","tag-nasa","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}