NASA on Friday gave SpaceX the green light to test a new crew capsule by first sending an uncrewed craft with a life-sized mannequin to the International Space Station (ISS).
“We’re go for launch, we’re go for docking,” NASA Human Exploration and Operations associate administrator William Gerstenmaier said.
A Falcon 9 rocket from the private US-based SpaceX is to lift off, weather permitting, on Saturday to take the Crew Dragon test capsule to the space station.
NASA in 2014 signed contracts with SpaceX and Boeing for the companies to shuttle US astronauts to the ISS.
This will be the first time the US space agency lets a private-sector company transport its astronauts.
NASA ended its space-shuttle program in 2011 and since then has relied on buying spots on Russian Soyuz rockets to send US astronauts to the orbiting station.
“This is an absolutely critical first step that we do as we move towards returning the crewed launch capability back here to the US,” said Gerstenmaier, speaking at a news conference in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The flight is to be identical to a flight that is to take two astronauts to the station later in the year, possibly in July.
The Crew Dragon capsule has seven seats. It should dock with the ISS on Sunday next week then detach and return to Earth on March 8.
“I guarantee everything will not work exactly right, and that’s cool, that’s exactly what we want to do,” Gerstenmaier said. “We want to maximize our learning so when ... we’re ready to go do a real crewed mission, and it’ll be the right safety for our crews.”
SpaceX has already made more than a dozen uncrewed trips since 2012 carrying supplies to the space station with the cargo version of the Dragon capsule.
However, the safety criteria for crewed flights are higher and NASA said that the Crew Dragon still has some problems, including with its parachutes.
“It’s a really big deal for SpaceX,” said Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of the company founded by billionaire Elon Musk.
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