Elon Musk's SpaceX is poised to send a crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station on Saturday evening in NASA's first operational mission using the Crew Dragon capsule. The Crew Dragon capsule, named "Resilience" by its crew, is due to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 7:49 p.m. "The history being made this time is we're launching what we call an operational flight to the International Space Station," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said during a press conference at Kennedy Space Center. NASA contracted SpaceX and Boeing in 2014 to develop competing space capsules aimed at replacing its shuttle program that ended in 2011 and weaning off dependence on Russian rockets to send U.S. astronauts to space. Boeing's first crewed test mission with its Starliner capsule is planned for late next year.

Source: CBC News November 13, 2020 20:14 UTC