Green light for test flight SpaceX spacecraft inhabited

The US space agency NASA has given the green light to the first test flight of a new space capsule from the private company SpaceX for manned missions. As NASA announced yesterday, the space capsule "Crew Dragon" will be launched Saturday to the International Space Station (ISS) – but still without astronauts on board. Only one life-sized doll will be on the test flight.

However, NASA hopes to bring astronauts into space with a SpaceX missile for the first time this year. SpaceX has already repeatedly sent its space capsule "Dragon" to the ISS, but until now only with hardware. Astronauts are expected to board in July aboard a "Crew Dragon" capsule, which will be carried by a Falcon 9 rocket into space. Two astronauts must participate in the mission on the ISS.

Replacement of the Space Shuttle

The flight test with a Falcon 9 rocket is now scheduled for March 2, according to NASA. On March 3rd, the capsule must dock at the ISS and return to Earth on March 8th. "We are ready to take off, we are ready to dock," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's manned flight officer, at a press conference at the US Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida.

The US space shuttle program was interrupted in 2011. Since then, US astronauts have only been able to reach the ISS with Russian Soyuz rockets. The contract with Russia expires in November. Then SpaceX and Boeing will take over.