Briefly: SpaceX astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken will obtain the Congressional Area Medal of Honor on Tuesday. Each are former NASA astronauts who flew house shuttle missions earlier than this system’s retirement. The awardees went on to work for SpaceX.
The Congressional Area Medal of Honor is a civilian award, to not be confused with the Medal of Honor for army members. It was launched in 1969 and awarded to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for being the primary people to set foot on the moon.
Historically, the medal is handed out to those that marked a primary in house exploration. Congress additionally awarded it posthumously to the crews of the house shuttle disasters Challenger and Columbia. The final time it was awarded was in 2006, when Robert L Crippen piloted the primary shuttle mission.
So for the primary time in 17 years, the White Home will acknowledge Hurley and Behnken with the award as being the primary industrial house crew to berth with the Worldwide Area Station, placing an finish to US astronauts having to hitch rides on Russian craft. Their milestone mission was the SpaceX Demo-2. It was initially deliberate for Could 27, 2020 however obtained climate delayed till Could 30, 2020.
Demo-2 took them to the ISS aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavor. The pair joined the ISS Expedition 63 crew and stayed aboard the station for about two months, conducting varied science experiments. In addition they put in “a brand new European Drawer Rack Mark 2 within the house station’s Columbus module.”
Curiously, the Demo-2 mission immediately resulted from NASA’s industrial crew program. SpaceX and Boeing acquired a mixed multibillion-dollar grant from the house company in 2014.
As we have now seen, SpaceX’s growth and deployment of crewed spacecraft has been far quicker and extra environment friendly than Boeing’s still-struggling Starliner spacecraft, which has but to get off the bottom. Since Hurley’s and Behnken’s milestone flight, SpaceX has flown 5 different crews to the ISS, together with astronauts from Europe and Russia.
Regardless of being a civilian award, the Area Medal of Honor is permitted to be worn as a army ornament when applicable. Since Hurley is a retired colonel within the Marines and Behnken is likewise a former colonel within the Air Drive, they will add the badge to their uniform lapels.
Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to current the medals on the White Home later at present.