KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – NASA announced Wednesday the U.S. space agency and its partner, SpaceX, are hoping to launch the first astronaut mission from U.S.
soil since 2011 as early as mid-May. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, teams at SpaceX and NASA say they could be ready to launch NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley in the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule this spring.
Most NASA employees were told to work from home Tuesday because of the virus. “NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting no earlier than mid- to late May for launch,” the space agency said in a news release.
When it does happen, Behnken and Hurley will blast off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center’s historic launchpad 39A, the same pad where Apollo 11