SpaceX ships Dragon spacecraft that will carry humans into space to Cape Canaveral
It's been seven years since there was a spaceship at Cape Canaveral that could carry astronauts.
SpaceX has just shipped one in for a test launch.
WESH 2's Dan Billow gives us a look at the Dragon spacecraft and when it might launch.
It's not your father's spaceship.
The sleek, spare interior of SpaceX's Crew Dragon, with its seven lustrous black seats, looks built for style, as well as substance.
Photos show the Dragon newly arrived on the Space Coast.
At SpaceX's launch and landing center, the Dragon flag is flying. It's the first spaceship capable of carrying astronauts since the space shuttle in 2011.
And if you ask SpaceX, it's on the verge of a test flight.
"SpaceX is still targeting August and December," said Jessica Jensen of SpaceX.
That's an unmanned test flight next month, and an astronaut launch in December.
The Crew Dragon has been passing some tests, such as a recent parachute trial, and also a vacuum-chamber run, to see if it could withstand the pressures of spaceflight. But despite SpaceX's assurances, evidence indicates the first astronaut launch since the space shuttle is falling farther and farther behind schedule.
A report this month from the Government Accountability Office said an analysis gave a zero percent chance that SpaceX would achieve its milestone.
The GAO said the Crew Dragon likely will not be certified for an unmanned test flight until next year.
The real thing, a launch with astronauts, may not come until 2020.
Why the delays?
The GAO said NASA has been slow to assess whether the new spaceship is safe enough. And SpaceX has been slow to show that its fixes to the Falcon 9 rocket will prevent another explosion like the one in September of 2016.
How far behind are we?
Back when that last spaceship launched and landed in 2011, the goal was to have astronauts launching again within five years.
The Government Accountability Office said a similar effort by Boeing to develop an astronaut ship is equally far behind schedule.