From the Heritage Foundation, I'm Michelle Cordero, and this is Heritage Explains.

Dragon, SpaceX, Go for launch.

SpaceX, Dragon, we're Go for launch.

SpaceX, Dragon, or Go for launch. Let's light this candle.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, two, one, zero.

Ignition, lift off.

There's a Falcon line and Crew Dragon.

Go NASA.

Go space, deck.

Godspeed, bottom tag.

America has launched.

As my family and I watched that launch, I really tried to get my kids to understand how important it was.

They totally thought the fiery rocket was cool, for a few minutes, but it was harder to really get them to appreciate the significance of this SpaceX and NASA partnership. Private Enterprise was once again

outperforming one of the most funded government-run programs. And because of that, America was back

in the space game after almost a decade, and that was even cooler. For Elon and 8,000 SpaceX employees today is the fulfillment of a dream almost two decades

in the making.

For years on end, they have worked hand in hand with NASA, sculpting aluminum, tightening valves,

tuning nozzles, testing parachutes, and filling massive tanks with thousands and thousands

of pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen. Today, the groundbreaking partnership between

NASA and SpaceX has given our nation the gift of an unmatched power, a state-of-the-art spaceship to put our astronauts into orbit

at a fraction of the cost of the space shuttle.

And it's much better.

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