The launch of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, which is to transport astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time, is scheduled between "mid-May and end of May," NASA said on Wednesday, announcing a date for the first manned flight launched by the United States to the ISS since 2011.
The rocket of the billionaire Elon Musk's company "Falcon 9" will launch Crew Dragon, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board (...) from Florida. NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting an early date between mid-May and the end of May for takeoff, " the US space agency said in a statement.
Read also: Historic success for SpaceX with the return of the Crew Dragon capsule
In March, the capsule had made a round trip to the ISS, to which it had moored more than 400 kilometers from Earth, with only one mannequin on board. The vehicle had spent six days in space before returning to the Atlantic.
Since the end of the space shuttles in 2011, after thirty years of service, only the Russians have been going back and forth to the ISS. SpaceX has made the trip to the International Space Station about fifteen times since 2012, but only to refuel the station.
To reduce costs, NASA has for the first time entrusted the transport of its astronauts to private companies: the space agency no longer owns the vessels or rockets and buys a service, for a fixed price. Boeing has also won a contract and is developing its own capsule, Starliner.