SpaceX and NASA prepare to test the new astronaut capsule

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NASA and SpaceX are planning the launch of a new astronaut capsule during a weeklong trip to the International Space Station (round trip) – an essential step for the resumed spaceflight from US soil after an eight-year break.

This time, the only occupant aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule will be a model named Ripley.

But if the test runs smoothly, NASA plans to ship two astronauts by the end of the year.

The new capsule will take off aboard a SpaceX-built rocket – led by billionaire Elon Musk – at 2:49 am (Irish time) from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

It is expected to reach the ISS tomorrow tomorrow, with a return to Earth next Friday.

NASA announced that the weather conditions were good at launch, with a probability of 80% favorable weather conditions.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk, who founded the company in 2002, was at the space center for the occasion.

"It's a crucial event in American history," told reporters Jim Bridenstine, director of the US Space Agency. The rocket and capsule are visible behind him on the legendary launch pad where Apollo missions on the moon began.

"We are about to launch US astronauts on American rockets again from American soil for the first time since the withdrawal of space shuttles in 2011."

The excitement was palpable at Cape Canaveral, from the volunteers' attractiveness of the space guiding the on-site media to the tourists who attended the launch that illuminates the overcast sky.

"It's been eight long years," said Bob Cabana, former astronaut for the director of the Kennedy Space Center, as SpaceX employees huddled around the rocket.

After shutting down the shuttle program in July 2011, after 30 years of operation, NASA began outsourcing the logistics of its space missions.

It pays Russia to have its inhabitants go to the research center orbiting the ISS at a cost of $ 82 million per capita for a round trip.

In 2014, the US Space Agency awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing to enable them to take on this task.

However, there were delays in the program as security requirements were much more stringent for piloted flights than for unmanned satellite deployments.

"We will have better access to space at a cost higher than that of the history of humanity," said Bridenstine, adding that he was "100% confident" that An inhabited flight would take place by the end of the year.

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