Nasa and SpaceX have picked May 27 for resuming astronaut launches from the United States after nine years of complete Russian dependence.
Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the launch date on Friday.
Astronauts have not launched into orbit from the US since Nasa’s last space shuttle flight in 2011.
Before our Apollo astronauts launched to the Moon, they had to walk out of these doors at @NASAKennedy.
And when we launch @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug on the @SpaceX Demo-2 mission, these doors will be used again.
Prepare to #LaunchAmerica on May 27: https://t.co/BtWva5fpmF pic.twitter.com/PAYSDdl6Cm
— NASA (@NASA) April 17, 2020
SpaceX aims to end the drought by sending two Nasa astronauts to the International Space Station.
“On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil!” Bridenstine tweeted.
Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will blast off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, departing from the same Kennedy Space Centre launch pad used by shuttle Atlantis in July 2011, as well as the Apollo moonshots a half-century ago.
Mr Hurley served as pilot on that last shuttle mission and will be the spacecraft commander for SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsule.
Launch day will be a Wednesday, with a liftoff time of 4:32pm EDT. It is too soon to know whether the coronavirus pandemic will prompt crowd restrictions.
Only three countries have launched people into orbit since 1961: Russia, the US and China, in that order. SpaceX would be the first company.
Human spaceflight is returning to America! 🇺🇸🚀
On May 27, @NASA astronauts @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug will launch on @SpaceX's #CrewDragon spacecraft from @NASAKennedy for the Demo-2 mission. #LaunchAmerica
💻: https://t.co/MSIVLyopE8 pic.twitter.com/81u7mMLxtm
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) April 17, 2020
SpaceX successfully conducted its first test flight of a Dragon crew capsule a year ago, sending the capsule — minus a crew — to the space station.
The returned capsule was accidentally destroyed during ground testing at Cape Canaveral, further delaying the astronaut launch.
With the space station crew now down to three, Mr Hurley and Mr Behnken will spend weeks, perhaps months, helping to maintain the orbiting lab.
The length of their mission is still under review, according to Nasa.
Nasa, meanwhile, is in the process of buying another seat on a Russian rocket.
Russian Soyuz capsules have been the sole means of crew transportation to and from the space station since 2011.
SpaceX has been using Falcon 9 rockets to launch cargo to the space station in the company’s original Dragon capsules since 2012.
Nasa turned to private companies for deliveries once the shuttle programme ended.
Boeing also is working to launch astronauts under Nasa’s commercial crew programme, but the company’s effort suffered a serious setback following last December’s botched test flight.
Launching without anyone on board, Boeing’s Starliner capsule failed to reach the space station after ending up in the wrong orbit and came close to destruction twice because of software errors.
Boeing plans to repeat the test flight, again without astronauts, this autumn.
