(Hawthorne, CA) — SpaceX is gearing up for its first manned launch later this month. Elon Musk’s company confirmed today two NASA astronauts will be on board a Crew Dragon capsule for the May 27th mission. The Demo-2 launch will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station. A Falcon 9 rocket will lift the capsule into orbit from launchpad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
🇺🇸Due to Storm Arthur, SpaceX is postponing its Starlink launch to an undetermined date at this time.
This means that the next launch from U.S. soil will be the first manned flight in nearly a decade🇺🇸
🇫🇷En raison… https://t.co/tdWNpxlSYT— Space Exploration News (@Explospace) May 18, 2020
NASA’s last previous manned launch took place on July 8th, 2011. The space shuttle Atlantis launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 11:29 a.m. EDT. STS-135 was the final mission of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Atlantis embarked on a 12-day mission to the space station. SpaceX will attempt to do the same at the end of the month nine years later.