The birth of US commercial human spaceflight

The International Space Station is an unprecedented feat of engineering and international collaboration and a unique laboratory for research to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight.

NASA contracted with Boeing and SpaceX in September 2014 to develop human spaceflight systems for transportation to and from the space station.

Each company will conduct a flight test without crew, an abort test, then a test with astronauts prior to NASA certification.

In Aug. 2018, NASA announced nine U.S. astronauts assigned to the first test flights and operational missions for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.

(L-R): NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley, and Nicole Mann, Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson, and NASA astronauts Eric Boe, Josh Cassada, and Suni Williams. (In Jan. 2019, astronaut Mike Fincke was chosen to replace Boe, who is unable to fly for medical reasons.)

Boeing is building the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

This is the Starliner that will be used for the company’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) with astronauts.

NASA astronaut Josh Cassada, assigned to the second crewed flight to the International Space Station of Boeing’s Starliner, trains for docking to the orbital laboratory.

Boeing’s Starliner will be powered to orbit by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Here the first stage of the rocket for the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT) arrives to Florida from the company's manufacturing plant in Decatur, Alabama.

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, who is assigned to fly on Boeing’s Crew Flight Test (CFT), joined NASA, ULA, Boeing and Department of Defense personnel for a practice launch day countdown of operations to fuel the rocket.

Astronauts will walk through the Crew Access Arm at the launch site in Florida to board Boeing’s Starliner for missions to the ISS.

Astronauts test the emergency egress system that provides an escape route in the unlikely event of an emergency prior to liftoff on launch day.

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann exits the Boeing Starliner mockup trainer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Mann is assigned to fly on Boeing’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) and will be the first woman to be part of the first flight of a U.S. spacecraft.

Boeing conducted the first in a series of reliability tests of its CST-100 Starliner flight drogue and main parachute system by releasing a long, dart-shaped test vehicle from a C-17 aircraft over Yuma, Arizona.

Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson wears a new Boeing spacesuit for astronauts flying on the Starliner throughout the launch and ascent into orbit as well as on the way back to Earth.

At NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, a mock-up of Boeing's Starliner undergoes landing qualification tests to simulate what the actual spacecraft and crew members may experience while returning to Earth from space.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is seen atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket at launch complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

The uncrewed Demo-1 mission, an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities, launched at 2:49 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 2 and was the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans.

NASA Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, wearing SpaceX’s spacesuit, test the Crew Dragon’s display inside a mock-up of the spacecraft in Hawthorne, California.

SpaceX missions will use the company’s Falcon 9 rocket to launch the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft on its missions.

The rocket with the Crew Dragon onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Friday, March 1, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA's chief of the astronaut office Pat Forrester, third from right and NASA astronauts Doug Hurley, second from right, and Bob Behnken, right, who are assigned to fly on the crewed Demo-2 mission, monitor the countdown of the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft on the Demo-1 mission from firing room four of the Launch Control Center, Saturday, March 2, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

For the first time in history, a commercially-built and operated American crew spacecraft and rocket, launched from American soil, arrived at the International Space Station.

Crew Dragon completed the first autonomous docking of any U.S. spacecraft to the station and first use of the international docking standard used to build the adapters on the station and the spacecraft.

SpaceX performs a test supporting Crew Dragon’s parachute system qualification tests and development.

During this test, a C-130 aircraft transported the parachute test vehicle, designed to achieve the maximum speeds that Crew Dragon could experience on re-entry, over the Mojave Desert in Southern California and dropped the vehicle from an altitude of 25,000 feet.

The new SpaceX spacesuit that astronauts will wear during missions to and from the International Space Station is displayed in front of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Personnel from NASA, SpaceX and the US Air Force practice recovery operations for the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

Using a full-size model, Air Force parajumpers practice helping astronauts out of the capsule in the unlikely event such a recovery is needed.

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, assigned to SpaceX’s first crew test flight, and Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover, assigned to the first operational mission in Crew Dragon, in front of a mockup of the spacecraft at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.