U.S. To Launch First Manned Space Mission In A Decade

NASA will be launching its first manned space mission from U.S. soil in over a decade.

Two astronauts will be heading to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 27 from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Since the retirement of NASA’s space shuttle in 2011, American astronauts have been making the trip using Russian rockets.

The rocket and spacecraft being used for the May launch have been developed by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.

The launch will also make SpaceX the first private company to send astronauts to the ISS.

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley use a Falcon Nine rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft for the trip that will take about 24 hours.

They will launch from the historic Pad 39A, which was used for the Apollo missions.

There are currently two Russians and an American on the ISS, after three astronauts returned to Earth on Friday.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan, along with Soyuz Commander Oleg Skripochka from Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.

The Expedition 62 trio landed in in remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at about 11am local time.

Morgan spent 272-days, or nine months, aboard the ISS and orbited Earth 4,325 times.

Skripochka and Meir were on the ISS for 205 days and made 3,280 orbits of the Earth.

On October 18, Meir led the historic first all-women space walk with crewmate Christina Koch. The pair conducted three spacewalks, tolling 21 hours and 44 minutes.