Launch America
Public-private partnership associated with the United States' return to human spaceflight / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Launch America is a public–private partnership between the United States and multiple space companies, closely related to NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The term "Launch America" was used as early as May 2016.[1] The initiative aims to end NASA's reliance on Roscosmos by developing launch systems that can carry crews to space from American soil.[2][3]
Launch America | |
---|---|
Status | Active |
Genre | Long-term public-private partnership |
Country | United States |
Years active | 3 |
Previous event | SpaceX Crew-6 |
Next event | Boeing Crewed Flight Test |
Organized by | NASA |
The first space launch under the "Launch America" banner occurred at the Demo-2 mission on 30 May 2020, successfully taking two astronauts to the International Space Station. This marked both the first launch of astronauts by a wholly commercial provider mission in the world, as well as the first crewed space launch by the U.S. in a decade, and the first ever crewed space launch by SpaceX.[4][5][6]