It is not known when astronauts will launch into orbit next to the United States. The ground, but NASA next week will clear up a much-awaited aspect of missions: which astronauts will be the first to steal Boeing and SpaceX capsules when they are ready.

At an upcoming event Fr On August 3 in Houston, home of the astronaut corps, NASA's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, will appoint the crews of the test pilots who will ship on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and Dragon SpaceX for their first crew test flights from the space coast. Teams of four who will follow after the capsules are certified as safe for operational missions will also be announced.

It remains to be seen which company will win the race to pilot the first crew of the Commercial Crew program of NASA, and

It is known that the current schedules have no basis in reality, showing flights of 39; non-departed test scheduled next month and the first test flights crewed before the end of this year.

NASA will likely update flight schedules and crew assignments. The space agency has long stated that it would announce crew assignments about a year before the missions.

Already three years have passed since NASA named a group of four astronauts for the test flights, which were planned for 2017.

Astronauts Bob Behnken, Eric Boe, Doug Hurley and Sunita Williams debuted But former NASA astronaut and current Boeing Starliner leader Chris Ferguson, who led the Space Shuttle's latest mission in 2011, is expected to represent Boeing on the first Starliner flight, with a NASA crew. SpaceX will fly a crew from NASA

This would leave a NASA test pilot member waiting for a subsequent operational mission.

Boeing will launch Starliner at the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets of Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. SpaceX will launch Dragons at the top of the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A Falcon 9 rockets.

Seven years after Ferguson led the crew of Atlantis, NASA relied on the Russian spacecraft Soyuz to fly crews. The microgravity laboratory complex orbiting 250 miles above its head

NASA will use its last Soyuz seats by the end of 2019, which may not be enough to equip the space station if Boeing and SpaceX "

The announcement of next Friday was originally scheduled to be hosted by KSC, the main center of the Trade Team Program, with the eventual participation of Vice President Mike Pence or even President Donald Trump. 19659006] But the place was moved to JSC, until here without the participation of the confirmed White House.

Bob Cabana, director of the KSC, and Mark Geyer, director of the JSC, will join Bridenstine to announce the crew.

In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing and SpaceX contracts to transport astronauts to the ISS, valued at $ 4.2 billion and $ 2.6 billion respectively. dollars.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or [email protected]. And follow on Twitter @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FlameTrench.

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