Now Slated For May Of 2018

NASA has updated its schedule for launching manned mission from the United States, and it indicates a slip in the date for the first SpaceX manned Dragon mission.

The schedule now has SpaceX flying its unmanned demonstration mission in November of next year, with the first manned mission slated for May of 2018, according to NASA's Commercial Crew blog. Boeing, meanwhile is scheduled for an orbital test in June of 2018, with the first manned mission of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in August, 2018.

The Verge reports that the schedule change confirms what had been heavily speculated; that the loss of a Falcon 9 booster and satellite in September would mean a delay in manned flights. In a statement to The Verge, SpaceX said its commercial crew team "has continued to work closely with NASA and is completing all planned milestones for this period. We are carefully assessing our designs, systems, and processes taking into account the lessons learned and corrective actions identified. Our schedule reflects the additional time needed for this assessment and implementation.”

Both SpaceX and Boeing had planned for crewed missions in 2017. NASA administrator Charles Bolden has partially blamed Congress for the delays, citing a lack of full funding for the Commercial Crew program. But Congress allocated the full amount requested by President Obama for fiscal year 2016, according to the report.

The delays mean that NASA will have to continue to rely on Russia, and pay about $81 million per seat, for transportation to the ISS for a little while longer. But that program is not without its problems. An unmanned Soyuz capsule was lost last week en route to the space station.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.spacex.com, https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2016/12/12/nasas-commercial-crew-program-target-flight-dates/