SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated this past weekend that the company is planning on launching humans into space for the first time in just a few months.
As reported by CNBC on Sunday, Elon Musk’s SpaceX will be launching its first crewed mission sometime during Q2 of 2020. The news came from Musk himself when speaking to the press after the company completed a successful test run — a “picture perfect” run according to Musk — of the Crew Dragon vessel’s in-flight abort system.
The founder and CEO of SpaceX said that the inaugural launch of astronauts, a mission called Demo-2, will likely take place sometime between April and June of this year; two NASA crew members will be sent to the International Space Station for a few days. According to Musk, the rocket and spacecraft needed for the trip are already being built in Florida with completion slated for late February or March.
As NASA’s Space Shuttle program shut down nearly 10 years ago, with astronaut transport to the ISS currently being facilitated by Russia as a result, SpaceX could potentially return that capability to US. When speaking about the matter, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine stated that, “This is a great opportunity for us to once again lead. And this time, when we lead, we’re doing it differently than we’ve ever done it before: NASA is going to be a customer.”
The organization will be paying SpaceX approximately $55 million for every astronaut that gets sent to the ISS.
In the meantime, Musk had no comments on when SpaceX will be able to fly private customers into space; however, the company will be welcoming international partners who are looking to travel out to the final frontier.