After years of development and a single weather-related delay, on May 30, 2020, at 1922 UTC, Space X launched a Dragon Crew Capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket with two humans on board: Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. When they lit this candle up, they burned through 2 stages of highly refined kerosene-based RP-1* fuel and Liquid Oxygen. 

After safely reaching orbit, Doug and Bob announced the final name of their capsule. From then on Demo-2 would be known as Endeavour. This name memorializes the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which was the first spacecraft both astronauts flew to orbit. The shuttle was named after the HMS Endeavour, which carried Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery in the late 1700s.

While everyone was captivated by the SpaceX space suits, and touch panels, the real star of the show was Tremor, an Apatosaurus plush made by Ty that had been selected from Bob and Doug’s kids’ toys to serve as a zero-g indicator. Exactly whose son’s toy was borrowed has not been revealed. 

If the suits look like something out of a comic book, well, they could be. The suits were designed by Hollywood costume designer Jose Fernandez who has designed suits for Batman, X-Men United, and Fantastic Four.

Demo-2’s ultimate destination was the International Space Station, which it reached in just 19 hours.

Once onboard, Doug Hurley completed a multi-decade game of capture the flag and claimed a small US flag that was originally flown on STS-1 in 1981, and was left when he and his crewmates flew on STS-135. After that last shuttle flight, it was President Obama who said that Boeing and SpaceX would now be playing a game of capture the flag to bring that flag home. Doug had no idea back in 2011 that he would ever return to space, let alone return to it in such a historic way nine years later. 

In addition to carrying Bob, Doug, and Tremor, Endeavour had a standard load of cargo that included basics like food.

While things generally went flawlessly with the Crew Dragon flight, the same can not be said with the last test firing of the SN4 Starship prototype. After successfully test-firing its engines, something went very wrong, and the vehicle and its surroundings were laid flat by a massive explosion. It’s unclear what happened at this stage, but multiple videos indicate the fire started near the base of the rocket, and it may not have been the rocket itself that started the explosion. While this loss of yet another prototype will slow SpaceX, it won’t slow them for long.

According to images coming from BocoChicaGal, SN5 and SN6 are already taking shape on the Texas coast.

More Information

SpaceX mission update 

NASA Astronauts Launch from America in Historic Test Flight of SpaceX Crew Dragon (NASA)

SpaceX’s Starship explosion explained by Elon Musk (Teslarati)

SN4, We Hardly Knew You. Another Starship Prototype Lost! (Universe Today)