Astronauts explain what it’s like to be “shot off the planet” in a shuttle
The Space Shuttle orbiter lifted off for the last time in July 2011. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/)If all goes according to plan tomorrow, two NASA astronauts will blast off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, bound for the International Space Station (ISS). It will be the first crewed launch from US soil since 2011, when the Space Shuttle orbiter made its last flight.When the Shuttle made its debut on the Kennedy Space Center launchpad in 1981, it had two astronauts on board. Up to that point, NASA had never before sent a rocket system up on its maiden flight with people strapped in. (They did run atmospheric glide tests with a crewed orbiter that was hitched it to a 747, but those missions weren’t actually in space.)To mark the Crew Dragon launch, PopSci spoke with two Shuttle-era astronauts—one who flew on that initial 1981 mission, and another who flew on...