SpaceX Crew Dragon arrives at launch site for the 1st orbital crew flight from US soil since 2011

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft for the Demo-2 mission made it to Florida’s Space Coast on Feb. 13, 2020.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft for the Demo-2 mission made it to Florida’s Space Coast on Feb. 13, 2020. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The spacecraft that will fly SpaceX's first-ever crewed mission has made it to Florida.

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule arrived on Florida's Space Coast on Thursday (Feb. 13), NASA officials said, completing a cross-country trek from the company's California headquarters. 

"The spacecraft now will undergo final testing and prelaunch processing in a SpaceX facility on nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station," NASA officials said in an update.

Technicians at a SpaceX processing facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station can now start prepping the vehicle for the launch that will kick off Demo-2, a historic test mission that will send NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station (ISS). 

Video: Watch SpaceX's Demo-2 Crew Dragon spin in a critical prelaunch test

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That liftoff is targeted for early May from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which is next door to Cape Canaveral.

Demo-2 will mark the first crewed flight for Crew Dragon, and the first orbital human spaceflight to lift off from American soil since the final space shuttle mission in July 2011. But it won't be the first trip to the ISS for a Crew Dragon; one of the capsules aced the uncrewed Demo-1 mission to the orbiting lab in March of last year. (That vehicle was destroyed in April during a ground-test accident.)

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If Demo-2 goes well, SpaceX will likely be cleared to begin operational crewed missions to the ISS for NASA. In September 2014, the space agency awarded Elon Musk's company a $2.6 billion contract to finish development of Crew Dragon and fly six crewed flights to and from the orbiting lab.

NASA signed a similar $4.2 billion deal with Boeing, which is developing a capsule called the CST-100 Starliner. But it's unclear when Starliner will be ready to start flying astronauts. Boeing's vehicle suffered several software problems during its version of Demo-1 in December 2019 and failed to reach the ISS as planned.

Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook

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Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

  • Leftyricardo55
    Yes I'm a huge SpaceX fan, but if Starliner had been closer to launch I would be excited also. My ultimate dream is to see them both docked at ISS at the same time, with maybe Dreamchaser docked to a Bigelow hotel module ha ha.
    Reply