This past weekend, NASA celebrated a historic moment with the launch of the SpaceX Crew-1 mission and Victor J. Glover became the first Black astronaut to live on the international space station for an extended stay. The flight left on Sunday, Nov. 15 from the Kennedy Space Center based in Florida.
“It is something to be celebrated once we accomplish it, and, you know, I am honored to be in this position and to be a part of this great and experienced crew,” Glover said during a news conference on the new mission last week, according to Space.com. “And I look forward to getting up there and doing my best to make sure that, you know, we are worthy of all the work that’s been put into setting us up for this mission.”
The team for the first operational flight will also include NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Soichi Noguchi in addition to the California native. The Navy veteran expressed excitement about the new milestone and embarking on the missions with his team.
“Listening to Shannon and Soichi and Mike talk about their Soyuz experience, their space shuttle experience, and their lives on the International Space Station, and how they managed their families and communication and keeping their things together, all of that has been so valuable to me and to top it all off,” Glover said in an interview with Spectrum News. “We have a great time.”
Glover also took to his own Twitter to celebrate the news of the mission with followers. “Crew-1 is complete with Dragon Rider training,” he wrote. “We’ve got our license to fly! Thank you to all that made this possible. We hope to make you proud!” NASA also shared a short video on Glover’s history with the organization and his work with the Crew-1 mission.
NASA posted a clip of the mission launch on Sunday on their Instagram page with the caption “At 7:27 p.m. EST the @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon “Resilience” spacecraft launched from @NASAKennedy en route to the @ISS. Its precious cargo? @NASAastronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, @JAXAjp astronaut Soichi Noguchi, and more than 440 pounds of science experiments and supplies. This is the first official flight of the Commercial Crew Program, helping pave the way for the future of space exploration.”