CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The date to resuming launches of U.S. astronauts from the Space Coast is slipping into late 2019, according to the new launch timeline updated by NASA.
NASA officials said Wednesday the uncrewed test flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon originally on track for January will now happen March 2. The first official launch date NASA has provided for any of the commercial crew test flights.
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SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 with the astronaut-ready space capsule from NASA's Kennedy Space Center Launchpad 39A. The company recently conducted a static fire of the rocket's engines on the launchpad bringing the Falcon 9 one step closer to the Demo-1 launch with Crew Dragon.
In another shift, Boeing's first Starliner launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V will happen no earlier than April, according to the updated timeline. That launch will take off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at Space Launch Complex 41.
These changes push both companies' first launches with astronauts into the late summer. NASA officials said SpaceX's Demo-2 launch with crew is now slated for July and Boeing's first crew flight test with astronauts is no earlier than August.
The delayed launch timeline was expected as NASA works with Boeing and SpaceX to once again launch astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time in almost nine years.