American astronauts launched into space from American soil for the first time in nearly a decade on Saturday afternoon with SpaceX‘s launch of Crew Dragon into orbit. The historic moment marked the first-ever manned space launch by a private company in the history of the United States and, for many, marked the beginning of a new era of space flight. The significance of the launch, which had been planned for Wednesday before weather conditions forced a reschedule to Saturday, is one that wasn’t lost on astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley as they prepared for the moment. According to CNN, the astronauts rocked out to AC/DC when headed to the rocket for their monumental launch.
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During CNN‘s coverage of the launch event, John Berman reported that Behnken and Hurley had listened to “Back in Black” by AC/DC as they headed to the rocket that would take them to the International Space Station.
“We were told the astronauts listened to ‘Back in Black’ from AC/DC on their way to the rocket,” Berman reported. “In that vein let’s just say, for those about to launch, we salute you.”
The iconic AC/DC anthem wasn’t the only jam on the astronaut’s pre-launch playlist, either. Ahead of Wednesday’s scrubbed launch attempt, NASA‘s event livestream revealed that Behnken and Hurley had a few other interesting musical selections on their playlist, including The Blues Brothers version of “The Girl From Ipanema” as well as the very patriotic choice of “The Star-Spangled Banner” performed by the French horn section of the U.S. Army Field Band.
If you happened to miss out on the live stream of the launch, you can still check out the historic event in various news clips online. In the video up top, CBS News has a nice clip of the full event, including the ten-second countdown all the way through until orbit, where Behnken and Hurley will be until they are able to dock at the International Space Station on Sunday. As the weekend continues, NASA will also continue their programming of the event. You can check out the full schedule for NASA’s live stream below, all times Eastern.
May 30, Saturday
11 a.m. – NASA TV launch coverage begins
3:22 p.m. – Liftoff
4:09 p.m. – Crew Dragon phase burn
4:55 p.m. – Far-field manual flight test
TBD p.m. – Astronaut downlink event from Crew Dragon
6:30 p.m. – Postlaunch news conference at Kennedy
May 31, Sunday
TBD a.m. – Astronaut downlink event from Crew Dragon
10:27 a.m. – Docking
12:45 p.m. – Hatch Open
1:15 p.m. – Welcome ceremony
3:15 p.m. – Post-arrival news conference at Johnson
What do you think about the astronaut’s music choices for Saturday’s launch? Let us know in the comments below.
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