Space
SpaceX, NASA enter final phase of training for imminent astronaut launch debut
SpaceX and NASA are working together to make sure they’re ready to start flying crews to the space station. Two astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are preparing to launch on a Crew Dragon capsule, with a scheduled date of mid to late May for the historic launch.
As the world deals with the coronavirus, essential personnel at both NASA and SpaceX are continuing to progress to a crew flight. Since the final shuttle flight in 2011, NASA and other space agencies around the world have been forced to rely on Russian rockets as their sole means of transporting astronauts to and from space.
That will change with the next flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. The gumdrop-shaped spacecraft is set to carry Behnken and Hurley to the orbiting outpost. The length of their stay is still to be determined, but training efforts suggest that it will be longer than the original planned flight.
To that end, the duo has been working with NASA and SpaceX to practice day of launch procedures. On March 19 and 20, teams gathered in Firing Room 4 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to complete a series of full missions, from launch to landing. After the retirement of the shuttle fleet, NASA turned to the private sector to find its next generation of space taxi.
The space agency selected SpaceX and Boeing in 2014 to each build a spacecraft capable of ferrying crew to and from the space station. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon was the first to complete an uncrewed flight test, where the vehicle proved it could dock and undock itself from the space station. That test was a huge success and was followed on by a picture-perfect test of the Crew Dragon’s onboard escape system earlier this year.
Following the inflight abort test, all SpaceX needed to do was complete a few more tests of its Mark 3 parachute before NASA gave the all-clear to launch. But the company ran into a snag when it experienced two incidents back-to-back – the loss of a mock Dragon used for parachute testing and an unrelated in-flight rocket engine failure.
But SpaceX and NASA’s plans appear unphased, and the duo are working full steam ahead to the tentative May launch deadline. Key flight control teams stationed at their launch posts at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Johnson Space Center and SpaceX HQ have simulated the different phases of launch. In contrast, the astronauts have practiced launch procedures from their Crew Dragon simulator.
“The simulations were a great opportunity to practice procedures and to coordinate decision-making for the mission management team, especially with respect to weather,” Michael Hess, manager of operations integration for NASA’s commercial crew program said in a news statement.
“Simulation supervisors do a great job at picking cases that really make the team think and discuss,” he added.
During the most recent simulations, teams ran through an entire mission, from prelaunch countdown to ascent and docking with the station while previous tests ran through timelines from hatch closure to undocking from the space station as well as practiced free-flight in preparation for re-entry and splashdown.
The countdown is on as the Crew Dragon capsule undergoes its final testing and preparations at SpaceX facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Once crew training and flight readiness reviews are complete, the spacecraft will be attached to its launcher: a shiny, new Falcon 9 booster.
If all goes according to plan, in late May, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will strap in and blast off the space station. There they will join fellow NASA astronaut, Chris Cassidy, who launches to the space station on April 9.
To ensure the mission gets off without a hitch, NASA and SpaceX are working closely and adhering to CDC guidelines to ensure teams stay safe and healthy. All non-essential employees are working from home, and the number of people coming in contact with the astronauts is minimal.
“The Space Station Program is looking forward to [having] another way to rotate crews to station to perform science and experiments to benefit all,” Hess said.
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Elon Musk
NASA’s first human outpost on the Moon starts now – SpaceX on deck
NASA named the rovers, landers, and vendors that will build America’s first Moon Base.
NASA has laid out its most detailed Moon Base plan to date, describing a permanent outpost near the Moon’s south pole that the agency intends to build over the coming decade as a direct stepping stone to Mars. “The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, adding that every mission crewed and uncrewed “will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable.”
The plan is structured in three phases involving both uncrewed and crewed missions to deliver equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure to the surface, with the first three moon base missions targeted to launch before the end of 2026.
Moon Base I, targeting fall 2026, will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander to deliver scientific instruments to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge, the same region where Artemis astronauts will land. Moon Base II will send Astrobotic’s Griffin lander carrying more than 1,100 pounds of cargo including Astrolab’s FLIP rover to begin developing mobility systems on the surface. Moon Base III will carry the Lunar Vertex science mission on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Trinity lander to study lunar swirls near the south pole, with ESA and Korean science payloads aboard.
On the rover side, NASA awarded Astrolab $219 million and Lunar Outpost $220 million to build the first phase of Lunar Terrain Vehicles, with both rovers targeted for deployment to the lunar surface by 2028. Astrolab’s crewed rover weighs roughly 2,000 pounds and can reach over 6 mph. Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus rover can operate autonomously or via remote control at over 9 mph. Blue Origin separately received $188 million with an option worth $280.4 million to deliver cargo landers for rover transport.
NASA also confirmed that MoonFall, a mission deploying four survey drones to scout Artemis landing sites, has selected Firefly Aerospace to build the transport spacecraft, with a 2028 launch target.
SpaceX sits at the center of that commercial layer. SpaceX holds the NASA Human Landing System contract for the Starship-derived lander that will put astronauts on the surface under Artemis IV, currently targeting 2028. Before that can happen, SpaceX must demonstrate in-orbit propellant transfer at scale, a process requiring multiple Starship tanker launches to fuel a single mission. Water ice at the lunar south pole is central to the base’s long-term viability, as it can be converted into drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel, directly reducing dependence on Earth resupply. That resource loop becomes far more practical if Starship can land and be refueled on or near the Moon itself.
Elon Musk has publicly stated that Starship V3, which recently completed its first flight, should be capable enough for initial Mars missions. The Moon Base plan announced Tuesday is the infrastructure layer that connects everything between those two ambitions, and SpaceX is the only American company currently contracted to build the rocket that gets humans to either destination.
SpaceX’s Starlink product has just gotten its latest airline adoptee, and the move marks the successful partnership of three of the “Big Four” U.S. airlines.
American Airlines announced on Tuesday that it would utilize Starlink in more than 500 narrowbody aircraft beginning in the first quarter of 2027. These include the Airbus aircraft in its fleet, including the new A321XLR and A321neo.
With the new partnership with American Airlines, Starlink is now present on three of the largest airlines in the country: American, United, and Southwest.
Starlink gets its latest airline adoptee for stable and reliable internet access
Starlink’s VP of Enterprise Sales, Jason Fritch, said:
“We are proud to bring Starlink on board American Airlines, delivering fast and reliable internet to passengers and crew. Whether traveling for leisure or business, Starlink enables a fully connected experience gate to gate, making every flight smoother and more enjoyable.”
Additionally, American Airlines Chief Customer Officer, Heather Garboden, said:
“As a premium global airline, we are continuously seeking out world-class partners like Starlink to deliver what our customers need and want. The addition of Starlink solidifies American as a leading airline in keeping passengers connected in flight.”
Starlink has been on a tear over the past year, as it has continued to be adopted by a wide variety of airlines as a more consistent and reliable way to provide WiFi to its passengers. It has already gained a great reputation among residential users, but its biggest commercial application appears to be how it is being used in the air.
American Airlines will adopt Starlink on more than 500 of its narrowbody aircraft beginning in Q1 2027
“As a premium global airline, we are continuously seeking out world-class partners like Starlink to deliver what our customers need and want,” said American Airlines Chief… pic.twitter.com/XY2wflycc0
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 26, 2026
The only airline of the Big Four not to adopt Starlink thus far is Delta, which chose to opt for the alternative, which is Amazon Leo. CEO Ed Bastian said to Bloomberg that Delta chose Amazon’s product over Starlink’s because “the opportunities, in terms of the improved bandwidth with a much lower price point than what we’ve ever seen from Starlink, will make a big difference.”
Delta will not start installing Amazon Leo until 2028.
“Of course, we expect Starlink will be warning people that we’re going to go with an inferior product,” Bastian said. “But I’m not too worried about partnering with Amazon.”
NASA has filed a procurement notice announcing its intent to add six post-certification missions to SpaceX’s existing Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract. The agency said it would order up to three of those missions immediately upon adding them to the contract, with the remaining three available as needed through the end of the International Space Station’s planned operations in 2030.
The reason for the expansion is straightforward. NASA cited recently shortened ISS mission durations, technical issues and schedule delays encountered by Boeing, the allocation of missions between Boeing and SpaceX, and the ongoing technical challenges of maintaining a reliable crew transportation capability as the driving factors behind the decision. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner has still not been certified for crewed flights, and a cargo-only Starliner mission was not included on NASA’s most recent mission manifest. With Boeing effectively sidelined for the foreseeable future, SpaceX is the only American company capable of rotating crews to the station.
The history behind this contract tells the fuller story of how SpaceX got here. NASA originally awarded SpaceX its Commercial Crew contract in 2014 for $2.6 billion. In 2022 NASA modified the contract to add five missions covering Crew-10 through Crew-14, worth $1.436 billion, bringing the total contract value at that point to $4.9 billion. The recent May 18 filing by NASA extends that runway further, with Crew-12 currently docked at the station and Crew-13 assigned and targeting a mid-September 2026 launch.
According to a report by SpaceNews, NASA stated in its filing: “It is necessary to award additional PCMs to SpaceX given the recently shortened ISS mission durations, technical issues and schedule delays encountered by Boeing, the allocation of missions between Boeing and SpaceX, NASA’s projections for when an alternative crew transportation system may become available, and the ongoing technical challenges of maintaining a reliable capability for crewed flights to ISS.”
No dollar value for the new six missions has been publicly confirmed yet, but based on the 2022 precedent of roughly $287 million per mission, the new block could represent close to $1.7 billion in additional contract value. With SpaceX simultaneously preparing Starship as NASA’s Artemis lunar lander, filing its S-1 for a June IPO, and now absorbing more ISS crew rotation work, the company’s role as the primary contractor for American human spaceflight is no longer a matter of circumstance. It is NASA policy.
NASA’s first human outpost on the Moon starts now – SpaceX on deck
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