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Trump to attend Florida launch of SpaceX flight: White House
WASHINGTON, May 23, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump will
attend the May 27 launch of two astronauts aboard a SpaceX mission —
the first crewed space flight from US soil in nine years, the White
House said Saturday.
“Our destiny, beyond the Earth, is not only a matter of national
identity, but a matter of national security,” Trump said in a
statement ahead of the visit, which will underline his push for a
return to work in the US amid the coronavirus pandemic.
US astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are scheduled to
blast off from Kennedy’s historic Launch Pad 39A at 4:33 pm (2033 GMT)
on Wednesday for the International Space Station, arriving the next
day.
The mission is seen as a crucial step towards ending American
dependence on Russian rockets.
Asked about going ahead with the mission in the midst of the
pandemic, Behnken told reporters: “Where there’s a will, there’s a
way.”
Behnken and Hurley have been in strict quarantine since May 13, but
they said their actual isolation began as far back as mid-March.
However, the launch plan could be hit by bad weather, with a 60
percent of a postponement according to official forecasts.
BSS/AFP/MRU/2225hrs