US NASA's 1st Crewed Flight To ISS In 8 Years Planned For July 25 - Source

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to hold its SpaceX Demo-2 mission, the first manned test flight of Crew Dragon spacecraft, on July 25, marking the first crewed US spacecraft launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in eight years, a source in the Russian aerospace industry told Sputnik on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd March, 2019) The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to hold its SpaceX Demo-2 mission, the first manned test flight of Crew Dragon spacecraft, on July 25, marking the first crewed US spacecraft launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in eight years, a source in the Russian aerospace industry told Sputnik on Friday.

In 2011, NASA shut down its Space Shuttle program of Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo missions. Since then, only Russian spacecraft Soyuz have been flying to the ISS. However, NASA is currently developing its Commercial Crew Program in cooperation with SpaceX, the manufacturer of Crew Dragon, and Boeing to launch its spacecraft to the ISS.

"The US side has informed the Russian side that the launch of the crewed Dragon 2 spacecraft mission to the ISS is planned for July 25. Docking with the station is planned to be held a day later. Undocking from the ISS and the return to Earth are planned for August 5," the source said.

NASA said earlier in March that astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley had been assigned to fly in the SpaceX Demo-2 mission.

Earlier this month, NASA held the successful test flight of the unmanned Crew Dragon mission to the ISS, known as Demo-1.