Bob Behnken’s neighbors wore Team Bob shirts and waved American flags as the NASA astronaut left his Timber Cove home for Ellington Airport on Wednesday, his final day in Houston before next week’s historic launch from Kennedy Space Center.
This neighborhood has long been home to NASA astronauts, engineers and flight directors. And its current residents wanted to make this launch, which ends a nine-year hiatus of launching astronauts from Florida, special for Behnken. Especially since COVID-19 is preventing many people from watching it in person.
“We just need to celebrate this flight,” said Timber Cove resident Lorna DeArmond, “and show our support for our crew and their families.”
On May 27, Behnken and Doug Hurley will become the first NASA astronauts to reach orbit on a vehicle owned by an American company. NASA has historically owned the rockets, spacecraft and shuttles that carry its people into space. But now, through its Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts are launching on a vehicle designed and owned by SpaceX.
NASA has been involved throughout the process, providing funding and expertise to ensure the safety of its astronauts. It will remain involved during the May 27 countdown and launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft, and throughout their time in space, where Behnken and Hurley could spend anywhere from 30 days to 119 days on the International Space Station, and continuing through the splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.
After Behnken and Hurley return home safe, NASA and SpaceX will review the data. NASA must certify the SpaceX human spaceflight system before it can begin more routine flights to the International Space Station, where NASA purchases seats as a customer.
“It’s a historic flight,” DeArmond said. “We’re returning to the International Space Station from American soil on American-made rockets.”
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DeArmond, who has worked for NASA contractors at Johnson Space Center since 1986, was invited to attend the launch before the COVID-19 pandemic restricted the number of attendees. She still wanted to commemorate the event, so DeArmond sent an email to her neighbors encouraging them to put signs in their yards or front windows. Her yard has a sign that says "Launch America, God Speed Colonel Behnken."
“It’s really to pass along the tradition to the kids here in this neighborhood,” she said.
Stacy Butler, who attended Behnken’s send-off with her children Finn, 4, and Zoey, 1, placed signs in her front yard on Monday. Finn helped paint the American flag and write “Good Luck Astronaut Bob.”
“We’ve been supporting astronauts as long as I remember,” said Butler, who does not work for NASA. “I grew up in this neighborhood, and now I’m raising my family in this neighborhood. It’s just something we’ve always done.”
andrea.leinfelder@chron.com
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