Blast off! NASA has returned to the rocket-launching business, and with a welcome twist

The nation that first sent humans to the Moon just launched two more into the sky, a final and high-stakes test of a new approach by NASA to manned space flight that, if successful, could change nearly everything about the way America engages with space.

The launch had been scrubbed Wednesday by NASA’s exemplary caution, and Saturday’s storms threatened to scrub it once more, but improving conditions cleared the way for the once-familiar fiery spectacle at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. On hand as the countdown approached zero and the massive rockets blazed into thundering, thrilling life were celebrities, space junkies and politicians — including President Trump, freshly arrived from the White House.

The pre-launch anticipation had been unusually intense, especially since the destination for the two astronauts — Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken — is the relatively close-by International Space Station, where crews supported by the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and 11 European nations have been making flights to and from for years.

This time, however, the rocket ferrying the astronauts into low orbit is an American rocket, launched from American soil. That hasn’t happened since 2011, when the Space Shuttle program was discontinued and NASA began hailing rides for its astronauts aboard Russian rockets.

Now, America is back in the rocket business, and this time with a partner. The rocket that blasted off Saturday and the capsule that will if all goes well dock in about 19 hours with the space station was designed, built and owned by a private company, Elon Musk’s pioneering SpaceX.

If the mission is successful, it will validate a vision of a public-private partnership born years ago and stands to radically transform the U.S. space program, right down to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Saturday’s launch is the final test for the concept, which involves NASA as a client, rather than the all-powerful mastermind of space exploration. The expectation is for SpaceX and, eventually, other firms to be hauling people and cargo to and from space regularly.

Eric Berger, a former Chronicle reporter who is now senior space editor at the science and technology publication Ars Technica, told the editorial board that while Saturday’s launch represents a major test for the new approach, he sees nothing but upside so far.

“Honestly, this has been a great program; fusing the brash, fast-moving, fix-it-and-fly style of SpaceX with NASA’s lumbering bureaucracy but deep human spaceflight knowledge. It’s worked out for both, and the taxpayers,” Berger said..

It’s also seen as just the beginning. SpaceX and others are dreaming of delivering payloads ranging from human tourists to commercial cargo in and out of the lower orbit above Earth. And NASA is eyeing a return to the Moon, with a giant landing station orbiting that silvery satellite and providing a means for missions to Mars and beyond to be undertaken in stages.

The expansive vision of NASA as both a partner and a leader in manned space flight was given a key boost by the NASA Transition Authorization Act or 2017, a massive overhaul of the space program that was sponsored by Houston’s Sen. Ted Cruz, an early champion of private space exploration.