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		</div><p>The two astronauts who will end a nine-year launch drought for Nasa have flown to Kennedy Space Centre, exactly one week before their historic SpaceX flight.</p>
<p>It will be the first time a private company, rather than a national government, sends astronauts into orbit.</p>
<p>Nasa test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken departed Houston on board one of the space agency’s jets.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Crew Dragon has arrived to Launch Complex 39A! ð</p>
<p>This spacecraft will carry <a href="https://twitter.com/AstroBehnken?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AstroBehnken</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Astro_Doug?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Astro_Doug</a> to the <a href="https://twitter.com/Space_Station?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Space_Station</a> when it launches atop a <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpaceX</a> Falcon 9 rocket on May 27, at 4:33 p.m. ET: <a href="https://t.co/yvfOCG49U8">https://t.co/yvfOCG49U8</a> <a href="https://t.co/Tdtdaucdef">pic.twitter.com/Tdtdaucdef</a></p>
<p>&mdash; NASA&#39;s Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAKennedy/status/1262471859028856832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>They are scheduled to blast off next Wednesday on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, bound for the International Space Station.</p>
<p>They will soar from the same pad where Atlantis closed out the space shuttle programme in 2011, the last home launch for Nasa astronauts.</p>
<p>Awaiting the astronauts at Kennedy’s former shuttle landing strip were the centre’s director, former shuttle commander Robert Cabana, and Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine.</p>
<p>The welcoming committee was reduced drastically in size because of the coronavirus pandemic. Journalists were told to wear masks.</p>
<p>Nasa’s commercial crew programme has been years in the making. Boeing, the competing company, is not expect to launch its first astronauts until next year.</p>
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