NASA and SpaceX confirm first astronaut launch

NASA and SpaceX confirmed on Tuesday that they are readying their first astronaut launch since the beginning of their Commercial Crew program in 2010.

The Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon spacecraft will be flown by NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, who will make a trip to the International Space Station.

Post-launch, Behnken and Hurley will spend 19 hours in orbit, with orbit-raising burns and also a manual flight test for around 30 minutes just prior to docking. They will dock and open the hatch around two hours later.

The launch will be attempted on Wednesday 27 May, depending on the weather. The company said it had a backup opportunity of May 30 and another launch window on May 31.

Both the agency and SpaceX announced today that they have officially passed the final flight readiness review.

According to NASA Commercial Crew Program manager Kathy Leuders during a press conference on Monday, everything went well with all pre-launch flight checks thus far.