NASA press briefing shortly after Sunday's launch. "I'm super fired up. This is great. It's really great. We're looking forward to the next step."— the agency's effort to hire companies like SpaceX and Boeing to launch astronauts — couldn't contain her excitement either.
"Another amazing milestone is complete for our very soon-to-be project, which is launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttles," Bridenstine said. "We're very grateful."NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken , who are scheduled to be the first people that SpaceX launches into orbit.
Wayne Hale, an aerospace engineering consultant and retired NASA space shuttle program manager, previously told Business Insider that the larger space community is eager to the US return to human spaceflight.