CONTEXT: Recently NASA launched its first full-fledged human mission (CREW-1) using a privately owned spacecraft.
About CREW-1 Mission:
- It is part of NASA’s first commercial human spacecraft system with a crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), onboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft called Resilience.
- It is the first of 6 crewed missions that NASA and SpaceX will operate as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP).
- ISS is a multi-nation construction project that is the largest single structure humans ever put into space. o It is a large spacecraft which orbits around Earth and is a platform for long-term research for human health.
- Main partner countries include NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), the European Space Agency, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
- Current plans call for the space station to be operated through at least 2024.