ST. LOUIS (KFTK) - A St. Louis native will be part of the first manned U.S. spaceflight since 2011. NASA and SpaceX announced Robert Behnken will be aboard a rocket headed for the International Space Station on May 27.
Behnken is a graduate of Pattonville High School (1988) and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Washington University in St. Louis (1992).
He will be the joint operations commander for the mission, responsible for activities such as rendezvous, docking and undocking, as well as Demo-2 activities while the spacecraft is docked to the space station, according to NASA. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2000 and has completed two space shuttle flights, the most recent being February 2010.
BREAKING: On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil! With our @SpaceX partners, @Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken will launch to the @Space_Station on the #CrewDragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Let's #LaunchAmerica 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/RINb3mfRWI
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) April 17, 2020
Behnken will be joined by Douglas Hurley on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.
They will lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:32 p.m. EDT May 27, from Launch Complex 39A in Florida, for an extended stay at the space station for the Demo-2 mission. The specific duration of the mission is to be determined.
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