- General
- January 10, 2019
- 12 minutes read
SpaceX and NASA Target Critical Test Of ISS Flight By February
NASA Commercial Crew Program astronaut Suni Williams observes operation of the SpaceX recovery ship. image : NASA/ Kim Shiflett SpaceX…
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| NASA Commercial Crew Program astronaut Suni Williams observes operation of the SpaceX recovery ship.
image : NASA/ Kim Shiflett
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SpaceX and NASA are targeting “no earlier than February” for the launch of Demo-1, an uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station in preparation for real flights with American astronauts (9 of which NASA unveiled last year August) in collaboration with Boeing.
The contract to ferry American astronauts to space being handled for the first time by private space companies is part of what’s known as the Commercial Crew program with NASA. This year will feature several crucial tests with SpaceX’s Demo-1 being the maiden flight of a new spacecraft named Crew Dragon. The Crew Dragon is planned for use to send astronauts up to the ISS by SpaceX when the Commercial Crew Program kicks off.
Nasa and SpaceX say they will confirm a new target date after coordination with the Eastern Range and the International Space Station Program for the upcoming test which will involve completion of hardware testing and joint reviews.
The nine Astronauts selected for NASA’s Commercial Crew program assigned to either SpaceX’s Crew Dragon or Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecrafts are :
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| NASA Astronaut Bob Behnken
image : NASA
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| Boeing astronaut Christopher J. Ferguson
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| NASA Astronaut Doug Hurley
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| NASA Astronaut Eric Boe
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| NASA Astronaut Mike Hopkins
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| NASA Astronaut Suni Williams
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| NASA Astronaut Nicole Mann
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| NASA Astronaut Josh Cassada
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| NASA Astronaut Victor Glover
image : NASA
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