For the first time since 2006, Vice President Kamala Harris will present the Congressional Space Medal of Honor today. Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will be the first astronauts to journey to orbit on a crewed SpaceX mission in 2020. The couple will be recognised for their courage after travelling to the International Space Station and staying there for over two months.
Hurley and Behnken were part of the first crewed spaceflight from American soil since the Space Shuttle’s last mission in 2011. They both flew on the Space Shuttle, and Hurley was on the programme’s previous mission.
The Demo-2 mission by Hurley and Behnken was the first crewed flight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Since then, five more SpaceX astronauts have flown to the ISS.
According to The Washington Post, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor is often awarded to recognise a first in space flight. Neil Armstrong, Alan Shepard (the first American to fly to space), John Glenn (the first American in orbit), and Frank Borman are among the previous winners (commander of Apollo 8, the first lunar orbit mission). The medal was also given posthumously to the Apollo 1 crew and those who perished on the Challenger and Columbia space shuttles.
