Ramaphosa Congratulates Elon Musk on ‘Historic’ Flight

June 1, 2020 (EIRNS)—South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated his country’s native son and global technology pioneer, Elon Musk, for SpaceX’s historic first crewed commercial flight into space. Powered by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft (now officially named “Dragon Endeavour”) carried NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley into space on Saturday, May 30, en route to docking with the International Space Station 19 hours later.

“In the midst of our struggle against COVID-19, Elon Musk has made us proud as a country and continent. The Dragon’s successful flight to the International Space Station speaks of the ability of a resilient, industrious, fearless and visionary individual to harness talent and material resources to open new frontiers of hope, adventure and opportunity for generations into the future.

“It is most appropriate that we have been given this hope and excitement at a time when insecurity and uncertainty defines the human condition in many parts of the world,”

said President Ramaphosa. This was the first time in history that a private-sector entity launched astronauts for NASA.

As noted by South African News, Pretoria-born Musk holds South African, Canadian, and United States citizenships.