Musk’s SpaceX and NASA Target February for Key Test Flight of New Craft

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and NASA are targeting “no earlier than February” for a critical Demo-1 flight, according to the agency’s blog post. Previously, the target date was Jan. 17, though Musk tweeted in early January that the flight was about a month away.

SpaceX, along with Boeing, has a contract to ferry American astronauts to the International Space Station as part of what’s known as the Commercial Crew program with NASA. The coming year will feature several critical tests. Space’s Demo-1 flight will be the maiden flight of a new spacecraft known as Crew Dragon, but no astronauts will be on board.

“NASA and SpaceX are now targeting no earlier than February for the launch of Demo-1 to complete hardware testing and joint reviews,” said NASA in its blog post Thursday. “NASA and SpaceX will confirm a new target date after coordination with the Eastern Range and the International Space Station Program.”

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