SpaceX Rocket To Start Launching Astronauts By July, Source Says

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Rocket could be sending NASA astronauts to space as early as July this year. This information was revealed by an unlikely source who is familiar with Russia’s own space industry.

According to a report, a source told the state-run publication RIA Novosti that NASA plans to send astronauts onboard SpaceX’ Dragon Crew in July. The source is said to have inside access to Russia’s aerospace agency.

The information was based on the U.S. space agency’s updated launch schedule to the International Space Agency (ISS) which was given to Russia’s Roscosmos. The schedule already includes the preliminary target date of when Elon Musk’s space company would bring humans to the ISS onboard the Crew Dragon.

The ISS mission, dubbed SpaceX’s Demonstration Mission 2 (DM-2), is said to be set on July 25. It will bring astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS and back again to Earth on August 5th. The Crew Dragon Demo-2 is set to be the first private spacecraft to bring humans to space. The information was released via a news blurb through RIA’s website.

“The American side informed the Russian side that the launch of the [first crewed launch of] Dragon-2…to the ISS…is scheduled for July 25. The docking with the station is scheduled [to occur around one day later]. The separation from the ISS and return to Earth is expected on August 5,” the agency’s source said.

However, the info sounded a bit sketchy as another Russian news agency, the TASS, published that SpaceX is scheduling its Demo 2 on November. The information also comes from an anonymous source inside the Russian space agency.

This is considered to be a big event as a successful Crew Dragon mission can re-energize the U.S. space industry which last brought American astronauts to space back in 2011. Since then, NASA had to rely on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to reach the ISS.

Due to this, NASA has supported private companies which aimed to bring their spacecraft into orbit. Two companies, SpaceX and Boeing, were awarded by NASA with billion-dollar commercial crew contracts to start building its spaceships.

The Crew Dragon recently came from a successful demo launch to the International Space Station last month where it was able to attach itself to the space laboratory with ease. It safely landed back on Earth after its mission.