"Spice X" at the International Space Station

NASA gave Spice X the green light to test a new vehicle for human crews by sending an unmanned vehicle with a human body the size of the Earth at the International Space Station.

The Falcon 9 Spice X base rocket in the United States is scheduled to begin March 2, weather permitting, to transport the test vehicle to the International Space Station.

The vehicle has seven seats and should reach the station on March 3 and return to Earth on the 8th of this month. In 2014, the agency contracted Spice X and Boeing to bring US astronauts to the station. This will be the first time that NASA will allow a private company to move its astronauts.

The US agency ended its space shuttle program in 2011 and since then relies on Soviet Soyuz missiles to send American astronauts into the ISS. "We are taking a very important first step towards restoring the United States' ability to send astronauts into space," said William H. Gerstenmeier, responsible for human exploration and operations at the United States. NASA at a press conference in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The trip will be similar to the one planned to take two astronauts to the International Space Station later this year, probably in July. The pilot flight is not the first of Spice X, it has sent dozens of unmanned flights since 2012, which carry supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.

But security standards for manned flights are higher than those for unmanned flights, and NASA has announced that Crow Dragon still faces some problems, including umbrellas.