SpaceX Prepares to Launch First Certified Crew Mission for NASA
SpaceX is ready to launch the Crew-1 mission for NASA, marking the first regular flight under its newly certified astronaut transportation system. This milestone officially shifts the historical arc of human spaceflight.
SpaceX prepares to make history once again as Elon Musk's company gets ready to launch the Crew-1 mission for NASA on Sunday evening. The mission comes less than six months after the company completed a successful two-month test flight that proved the reliability of its spacecraft.
NASA officially certifies SpaceX's system to carry astronauts this week, making it the first commercial entity to achieve such a designation. NASA director of commercial spaceflight development Phil McAlister notes that this milestone changes the historical arc of human space transportation.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Resilience, sits in the hangar ahead of its scheduled liftoff from launchpad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. With all required reviews complete, SpaceX begins regularly flying humans to space for the agency.