NASA astronauts Bob Behnken (left) and Doug Hurley (right). Photo credit: NASA

After months upon months of preparation, the famed aerospace company SpaceX is apparently set to launch human astronauts into space, its launch being the final major test required for SpaceX to be certified by NASA for operational manned crew missions to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX is ready for a final major test flight with two NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, onboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. This test flight notably marks the return of human spaceflight to the US, given that the last time a manned crew spaceflight launched from U.S. soil was in 2011.

SpaceX is set to launch its historic crewed spaceflight on Wednesday, the 27th of March, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in the U.S. state of Florida.

As planned, once the Dragon spacecraft docks at the International Space Station with the two astronauts on board, it’s set to return back to the Earth atmosphere and splashdown off Florida’s Atlantic Coast, where it’ll be quickly recovered and returned to a SpaceX facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

SpaceX’s human-manned spaceflight launch falls under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, a program that doesn’t only mark a turning point for America’s future in space exploration but one that also lays the groundwork for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.