NASA on track to launch astronauts in June 2018
Efforts by Boeing and SpaceX to launch astronauts from Cape Canaveral remain on schedule and manned flights could begin within the next year, NASA says.
NASA released last week its “most recent publicly-releasable dates” of SpaceX’s Dragon 2 and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner. SpaceX is on track to launch a test flight in February 2018 and a crewed flight in June 2018 while Boeing plans to launch a test in flight in June 2018 and a manned flight in August 2018.
The last time astronauts launched into space from the Cape was 2011. NASA awarded contracts in 2014 to launch astronauts to Boeing and SpaceX.
The 2018 launch dates are about two years behind NASA's original goal of
launching in 2016.
The integrated spacecraft, rockets and associated systems will carry up to four astronauts on NASA missions, NASA said.