Three NASA crew and one Japanese astronaut are set for launch aboard a SpaceX rocket Saturday, bound for the International Space Station (ISS) in the program's first six-month routine mission since the United States resumed crewed space flight in May after nine years of reliance on Russia.
NASA on Tuesday officially certified as safe the Crew Dragon capsule developed for regular astronaut transportation.
"I'm extremely proud to say we are returning regular human spaceflight launches to American soil on an American rocket and spacecraft," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said.
They are expected to arrive at the ISS eight hours later on Sunday. The mission marks a culmination for SpaceX, setting it up to be NASA's favored transportation provider as the agency waits on Boeing's Starliner capsule, which has been held up in testing and is not expected to be ready before next year.
SpaceX has been operating space station re-supplying flights with the cargo version of the Dragon since 2012. The next crewed mission to ISS is expected to blast off at the end of March 2021, carrying French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, with one Japanese and two American crew members.
