First test flight of SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft scheduled for Jan 2019

Washington, Nov 23: The first flight test of an unpiloted SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft has been scheduled for January, NASA announced. During the test flight, the Crew Dragon spacecraft will travel towards the International Space Stations while each part of the system will be verified and evaluated. If everything goes as planned a manned mission involving two NASA astronauts will take place in June.

The test marks an important milestone for the United States, which has not been able to independently deliver astronauts to space since 2011 when the space shuttle program was retired.

The test flight in SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, called Demo-1, has been scheduled for January 7, 2019 at 23:57 ET. A Falcon 9 rocket will be launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and carry the capsule to the International Space Station. The space agency will carefully monitor the performance of the rocket, crew dragon, ground system and docking process.

Before Demo-2, however, NASA will conduct an interruption test during the flight, during what time, the unplugged Crew Dragon's interruption system will be engaged by capsizing the capsule from the top of a Falcon 9 just after launch, according to Space News.