President Trump At the Launch Of A New American Missile

President Trump At the Launch Of A New American Missile. U.S. President Donald Trump arrived at Cape Canaveral space base in Florida on Wednesday evening.

 

His presidential plane, Air Force One, flew past the Crew Dragon missile, ready to be launched later in the evening.

It is the first time that a commercial company is conducting a manned space flight and the first U.S. manned mission in nine years.

Onboard the Crew Dragon are astronauts Douglas Hurley and Bob Behnken. They have to leave on Wednesday evening at 22.33 Dutch time for the international space station ISS, their home for the coming months.

They will arrive there on Thursday. The Crew Dragon was developed by SpaceX, the space company owned by businessman Elon Musk. He is also the man behind the car manufacturer Tesla and payment service PayPal.

Trump is only the third U.S. President to attend a launch. Richard Nixon was the second manned flight to the moon in November 1969 at the departure of Apollo 12.

Bill Clinton watched space shuttle Discovery take off in 1998. Onboard was then 77-year-old Senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.