The Commercial Crew Program is the start of a new era of space exploration.
On Sunday, NASA, in collaboration with SpaceX, will launch what is known as Crew-1 into space. The launch was postponed until Sunday due to “high wind and weather conditions that could jeopardize the recovery and recycling of the rocket booster,” according to an article from the Associated Press.
This will be the first fully-staffed and operational commercial mission to the International Space Station. Commander Mike Fincke joined us live Saturday on KSAT 12 to discuss the new era of space exploration.
“This flight opens up the doors for a lot of interesting things. First off, it’s good for NASA because we need to get up and down to the International Space Station,” Fincke said. “This also is really good because this is a capsule SpaceX rocket. So, SpaceX can now open up the doors. There’s gonna be new industry, new jobs, new economy... because there’s the opportunity to go into space commercially.”
The four-person crew that will be traveling to space in the SpaceX capsule will spend approximately six months conducting research on various projects. Fincke said one of these projects could be beneficial to leukemia patients.
“During this expedition coming up, these astronauts will be doing some fantastic science. For example, one of their projects is working with messenger RNA to make a better medicine for leukemia patients,” Fincke said.
The crew will also be experimenting with growing radishes, which may seem boring, but it’s a task that’s not so easy to do when in orbit, according to Fincke.
You can watch the full interview with Fincke in the video player above.
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