SpaceX’s crew rocket set for January test flight 2 SHARES Share it! The launch test is a crucial milestone in the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program, which aims to launch humans to space from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration said SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft – which will shuttle three astronauts to space from the same launch pad that sent Apollo 11’s three-man crew to the moon in 1969 – will make its debut flight atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 7. The Demo-1 launch is the latest test in a rigorous certification timeline imposed under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Boeing plans a similar test launch of the Starliner spacecraft atop its Atlas 5 rocket as soon as March, with a crewed mission following in August.

Source: Manila Bulletin November 21, 2018 19:30 UTC