Crew Dragon

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon has continued charting its history-making course through space by successfully delivering astronauts to the International Space Station, becoming the first privately built spacecraft to do so.

The launch of the SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the ISS marks two historic events. It is the first crewed launch from American soil since the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet in 2011, and the first ever crewed commercial mission to go into orbit.

NASA and SpaceX were forced to scrub the Demo-2 mission 17 minutes before its scheduled liftoff. The first manned mission to launch from American soil since 2011 and the first commercial manned launch was called off due to storm conditions.

The stage is set for a landmark launch for NASA, with the final dress rehearsal now complete ahead of Wednesday’s Demo-2 mission that will see US astronauts launched into space from American soil for the first time in nine years.

In the first manned mission to launch from American soil since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, NASA has announced the Demo-2 Crew Dragon mission will lift off on May 27 with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley aboard.

On April 3, 2020 at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA and SpaceX carried out a test of launch pad evacuation systems as part of the run-up to the first manned flight of the Crew Dragon.

Space Adventures has announced that it has signed an agreement with SpaceX to fly paying passengers aboard the aerospace company's Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will mark the first time that space tourists will be launched aboard an American rocket.

Science stands still for no one, and with a new year comes a new calendar of exciting events in spaceflight and exploration. New Atlas rounds up some of the most important milestones to look forward to in 2020.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 booster have completed an inflight launch escape demonstration. On January 19, 2020, the rocket and the unmanned capsule lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the eight-minute final flight test.

SpaceX has experienced some setbacks since docking an unmanned Crew Dragon capsule with the International Space Station back in March, but the company is continuing to edge towards the next launch of the spacecraft. A video shared on Twitter today shows the vehicle's parachutes in action, with SpaceX claiming to have now successfully completed 13 drop tests in a row.

SpaceX is continuing to test out the key components of a vehicle built to return human spaceflight to US soil, with an upgraded launch escape system for its Crew Dragon capsule the latest to be put through its paces.

Following an April explosion, SpaceX is now correcting course with a successful new engine test under its Falcon 9 rocket.