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193 articles
SpaceX’s first crew launch moved back to 2018
Astronauts will not fly to the International Space Station on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship until at least May 2018, NASA said this week, missing a previous target launch date at the end of next year.
NASA has no plans to buy more Soyuz seats, and it may be too late anyway
NASA is sure enough that Boeing and SpaceX can safely launch astronauts to the International Space Station by early 2019 to hold off paying Russia to keep flying U.S. crews to the research complex, and one official says a deadline to order parts for new Russian Soyuz crew capsules may have already passed.
Boeing nears fix for CST-100 Starliner design hitch
Boeing engineers are close to resolving concerns with the mass and aerodynamic shape of the company's CST-100 Starliner commercial crew carrier, and officials are optimistic the spaceship will be ready to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station in early 2018.
SpaceX ‘on track’ to launch astronauts in late 2017
SpaceX is on schedule to fly two NASA astronauts on a test flight to the International Space Station by the end of 2017, but there is a lot of work to do to ensure the company's new Crew Dragon spaceship is up to the task and ready in time, a SpaceX manager said Tuesday.
VideoDragon crew capsule’s propulsive landing system tested
SpaceX released a video Thursday showing a propulsive hover test of a prototype of the company's Dragon crew capsule conducted two months ago, a milestone in the development of the spaceship's rocket packs that will eventually guide the craft to helicopter-like landings.
SpaceX receives firm order for its first crew flight
Fresh off a major design review, SpaceX's human-rated Dragon spaceship has received the first of up to six firm mission orders from NASA under the company's $2.6 billion commercial crew contract.
SpaceX delays next Crew Dragon abort test
The next test of a critical safety system on SpaceX's human-rated Dragon spaceship will be delayed, likely until some time next year, as the company adjusts the development schedule for the new commercial crew capsule designed to take astronauts to the International Space Station.
Commercial crew spaceships face likely delays
NASA officials and lawmakers warned Wednesday that U.S. astronauts will continue riding to the International Space Station aboard Russian spacecraft longer than planned if a spending plan under consideration in the Senate becomes law.
SpaceX has ‘aggressive’ schedule leading up to crew flights
Staying true to a corporate philosophy that favors high-visibility flight tests, SpaceX plans to continue wringing out major parts of the company's human-rated Dragon spaceship in a sequence of dramatic flights leading up to the capsule's first crewed mission scheduled for 2017.
Photos: SpaceX’s passenger spaceship flies on first test run
It didn't go into space, but SpaceX's Dragon crew capsule fired off a launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday for a 99-second test flight to demonstrate a crucial safety mechanism that would save astronauts from a catastrophic rocket failure. View photos of the human-rated spacecraft's first flight.