A SpaceX rocket tailored to fly astronauts to the International Space Station is set to liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its first flight on Jan. 7, NASA said Wednesday.
The launch test is a crucial milestone in the space agency's Commercial Crew Program, which aims to launch humans into space from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade.
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration said SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft — which will shuttle three astronauts into space from the same launch pad that sent Apollo 11's three-man crew to the moon in 1969 — will make its debut flight atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 7.