After spending two months at the International Space Station, Nasa astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken returned to earth in excellent fashion. Demo Mission 2 was a textbook launch, a textbook stay at the ISS, and a textbook landing.

There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind what Space X is capable of technically. They are a positive force in the space industry to be reckoned with. The Space X success stands in such stark contrast to the multiple failures of Boeing’s Starliner which “flirted” with disaster in January of this year.

Next launch will be the Crew 1 mission, with a crew of four composed of NASA astronauts Micheal Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The compose the first operation mission, Expedition 64. They should launch some time in September if all goes as planned.

I am so happy to have watched Demo 2 unfold. After the unrelenting and unfolding disasters of the pandemic, which has triggered a major economic collapse, as well as the social unrest due to systemic racism, this success was such a wonderful and welcome change.