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On Oct. 25, SpaceX test-fired the Falcon 9 rocket that will launch its Crew Dragon capsule on an uncrewed demonstration mission to the International Space Station in January 2019.
Credit: SpaceX via Twitter
SpaceX just took another step towards launching astronauts.
On Oct. 25, Elon Musk's company tested the Falcon 9 rocket that would loft the Crew Dragon capsule on its first flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under a commercial-crew contract with NASA.
This demonstration mission, currently targeted for January 2019, will not carry astronauts. But the next Falcon 9-Crew Dragon will be crewed, and it will lift off in June 2019 if everything goes according to plan. [Take a Walk Through SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Spaceship]
Crew Dragon ISS missions will leave Earth from the historic Apollo-era Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But last week's Falcon 9 static-fire test took place at SpaceX's rocket-development facility in McGregor, Texas, SpaceX representatives said.
Both SpaceX and Boeing hold multibillion dollar NASA contracts to fly agency astronauts to and from the ISS. Boeing will use a capsule called the CST-100 Starliner, which is scheduled to launch on its uncrewed mission to the ISS this coming March. Starliner's first crewed ISS flight is targeted for August 2019.
The team at our rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas completed a static fire test last night of the Falcon 9 booster that will launch SpaceX's first demonstration mission for @NASA'S Commercial Crew Program – One Step Closer to Flying Astronauts to the @Space_Station! pic.twitter.com/iDYNoamCvU
– SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 27, 2018
Starliner will launch atop United Launch Atlas V Rockets, at least for the future.
Crew Dragon is based heavily on SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule, which has been flying robotic resupply missions to the NASA contract. Both Crew Dragon and Starliner can ferry to astronauts at a time.
When Crew Dragon and Starliner come online, they'll break a lengthy U.S. human-spaceflight drought. No crewed orbital missions have been launched from NASA since its inception in 2011. Since then, Russian Soyuz spacecraft have been astronauts' only ride to and from the ISS.
Mike Wall's book on the search for alien life, "Out There," will be published on Nov. 13 by Grand Central Publishing. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us @Spacedotcom or Facebook. Originally published on Space.com.
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