Skip to Content
Space

The first flight of the SpaceX capsule designed to carry astronauts will happen in January

November 22, 2018

The first home-grown rides to the ISS are due to take place next year, the first since the shuttle program was shuttered in 2011.
 
Enter the Dragon: In a blog post, NASA announced a time line for commercial missions to the International Space Station for 2019 by SpaceX and Boeing. The first flight test of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, the one that’s designed to carry astronauts, will launch January 7. A crewed flight carrying two NASA astronauts in the capsule is slated for June 2019.
 
Why it matters: NASA is in a hurry to get Boeing and SpaceX crewed missions up and running so it can shake off its dependence on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. Time is looking pretty tight: NASA has only bought Soyuz seats up until November 2019. If it doesn’t get its own trips sorted by then, that would mean no NASA astronaut would be able to get to the ISS.

The latest schedule suggests it’s been hustling, at least. A report in July this year (PDF) from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) had estimated that neither SpaceX or Boeing would be ready to go until early 2020.
 
What’s next: After January’s test flight, SpaceX will have to carry out an in-flight abort test—making sure the capsule can get safely away in the event of an accident—with no astronauts on board. If all goes to plan, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will fly on SpaceX’s Demo-2 test in June 2019—the first astronauts to fly from US soil since the shuttle’s last flight in 2011. They will fly from the same launch pad that hosted the Apollo missions. Boeing’s own crewed capsule, Starliner, will carry three astronauts in August 2019 after an uncrewed test flight in March.

Deep Dive

Space

The search for extraterrestrial life is targeting Jupiter’s icy moon Europa

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will travel to one of Jupiter's largest moons to look for evidence of conditions that could support life.

How scientists are using quantum squeezing to push the limits of their sensors

Fuzziness may rule the quantum realm, but it can be manipulated to our advantage.

The first-ever mission to pull a dead rocket out of space has just begun

Astroscale’s ADRAS-J spacecraft will inspect a dead Japanese rocket in orbit—a major moment in space-junk removal.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.