Posted: Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 9:06 AM ET (1406 GMT)
NASA announced Wednesday that the first test flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon commercial crew vehicle is scheduled for launch January 7. The agency said the spacecraft will launch that day on a Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The flight, which will not have astronauts on board, will test the vehicle's systems in space for the first time. It will be followed by a crewed test flight no earlier than June. Boeing, the other company with a commercial crew contract, is scheduled to carry out an uncrewed test flight of its CST-100 Starliner in March, followed by a crewed test flight in August.
