Nasa and SpaceX’s astronaut launch ‘major milestone for global space sector’

The joint effort by Nasa and SpaceX to send astronauts into space from the US is “a major milestone” for the global space industry, a leading space expert in the UK has said. Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are on course to make history on Wednesday as they travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on a rocket built by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s firm. If all goes as planned, the mission, named Demo-2, will see SpaceX become the first private company to send astronauts into space. It will also be the first time in nine years astronauts will have launched into space from US soil. Libby Jackson, human exploration programme manager at the UK Space Agency, said the work done...