Dragon Crew v.2.0

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Dragon2 droptest onboardviews

NASAKennedy

Дата загрузки: 5 июл. 2018 г.

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2018/07/05/spacex-completes-parachute-system-test/

SpaceX Completes Parachute System Test

Marie Lewis
Posted Jul 5, 2018 at 3:35 pm



In case you missed it, SpaceX recently completed its 16th parachute system test for the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

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(video 1:00)

SpaceX conducted the test at Naval Air Facility El Centro in Southern California, deploying parachutes to slow the spacecraft for a safe landing in the desert. Crew Dragon is designed for water landings in a nominal scenario, but the test demonstrated the system's ability to land the spacecraft safely in the unlikely event of a low altitude abort.

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[Astro Cat]

Интересно существует ли возможность посадки на двигателях в случае отказа парашютной системы?

[Rifkat]

Astro Cat пишет:
Интересно существует ли возможность посадки на двигателях в случае отказа парашютной системы?

Да, с известным результатом

[Astro Cat]

Rifkat, Это же говорили про посадку на двигателях первой ступени. Однако сажают же. А возможность посадки на двигателях же закладывалось изначально. Может какой из грузовиков новых и попытаются.

[Apollo13]

Я так понимаю для САС и маневрирования на орбите используется одно и то же топливо, так что к моменту посадки оно уже должно быть потрачено.

[Astro Cat]

Apollo13, Ну а как же тогда они собирались сажать на движках? Мультики рекламные вон явно показывали - посадка чисто на двигателях. Это потом им НАСА запретило. 

[Apollo13]

Astro Cat пишет:
Apollo13 , Ну а как же тогда они собирались сажать на движках? Мультики рекламные вон явно показывали - посадка чисто на двигателях. Это потом им НАСА запретило.

Но сейчас то уже не собираются. Зачем оставлять лишние баки? И еще на реактивную посадку ИМХО нужно не меньше тонны топлива. Не факт что риск отказа парашютов выше чем риск приземления с таким его количеством.

[Apollo13]

Jeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust 8h8 hours ago

Kavandi: SpaceX just wrapped up thermal vacuum testing [of Crew Dragon] at Plum Brook. #AIAAPropEnergy

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http://spacenews.com/crew-dragon-completes-thermal-vacuum-tests-ahead-of-first-test-flight/

Crew Dragon completes thermal vacuum tests ahead of first test flight
by Jeff Foust — July 9, 2018


SpaceX has completed tests of its Crew Dragon spacecraft at NASA's Plum Brook Station, which the company previously said was the last step before shipping the spacecraft to Florida for launch preparations. Credit: SpaceX

CINCINNATI — The first SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft has completed a series of tests at a NASA center that may put the spacecraft one step closer to an uncrewed test flight later this year.

In a speech at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Propulsion and Energy Forum here July 9, Janet Kavandi, director of NASA's Glenn Research Center, said the spacecraft recently left the center's Plum Brook Station after a series of thermal vacuum and acoustics tests.

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"They just left yesterday or today," she said in her remarks at the conference. "They've been out there twice, at least, at Plum Brook Station." She didn't disclose the outcome of the tests, and SpaceX did not respond to an email requesting comment on the status of the test.

The company previously indicated that the testing at Plum Brook was the last milestone before the spacecraft was shipped to Florida for final testing and integration with its Falcon 9 rocket. "Once complete, Crew Dragon will travel to Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of its first flight," the company said in a June 20 Instagram post about the tests that were ongoing at Plum Brook.

Jessica Jensen, director of Dragon mission management at SpaceX, also said the Plum Brook tests were the last before the spacecraft is shipped to Florida for launch. "Once it leaves Plum Brook, it's going to come down to Cape Canaveral for final launch processing," she said at a June 28 briefing at the Kennedy Space Center about the launch of a Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.

That launch will be the first of two test flights of the Crew Dragon vehicle, this one without a crew. NASA schedules released earlier this year, representing the most recent public updates for commercial crew test flights, said that the uncrewed Dragon test flight would take place in August, followed by a crewed test flight in December. SpaceX officials have stuck to that schedule in recent comments.

However, at that same KSC briefing last month, NASA acknowledged some changes in those schedules were likely because of development delays as well as finding slots in the overall visiting vehicle schedule for the ISS.

"We're evaluating exactly when opportunities might be and when they'll be ready, but we're not ready to set an official date at this point in time," Kirk Shireman, NASA ISS program manager, said at that June 28 briefing when asked about revised schedules for both Boeing and SpaceX commercial crew test flights. He added that updates would be coming "very soon."

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[Salo]

http://tass.ru/kosmos/5367805

NASA может лишиться возможности доставлять на МКС своих астронавтов в конце 2019 года
12 июля, 14:17 UTC+3
 У ведомства отсутствует план обеспечения беспрерывного доступа на станцию
 
ВАШИНГТОН, 12 июля. /Корр. ТАСС Александр Пахомов/. У американского космического ведомства - NASA - нет плана обеспечения беспрерывного доступа на Международную космическую станцию (МКС).
Это отметили в обнародованном в среду докладе аудиторы главного контрольно-ревизионного органа Конгресса США - Управления по подотчетности правительства.
По их словам, две частные компании - Boeing и SpaceX - могут не успеть получить разрешение на использование создаваемых ими кораблей для пилотируемых полетов на МКС к ноябрю 2019 года, когда у NASA истечет срок контракта с "Роскосмосом" на доставку на станцию и возвращение оттуда астронавтов на борту российских "Союзов". "Согласно проведенному нами анализу, не исключается возможность того, что ни одна из этих компаний не будет готова [предоставить свой корабль для безопасного полета] до августа 2020 года, и в таком случае у NASA не будет доступа на станцию в течение по меньшей мере 9 месяцев", - указали аудиторы.
NASA заключило с Boeing и SpaceX контракты на разработку пилотируемых кораблей еще в 2014 году, заплатив им $4,2 млрд и $2,6 млрд, соответственно. "Они достигли прогресса в конструкторских работах и создании компонентов модулей, но обе продолжают откладывать сроки сертификации своих пилотируемых транспортных систем", - говорится в докладе.
Изначально SpaceX должна была представить корабль для сертификации во втором квартале прошлого года, а Boeing - в третьем. Однако после ряда срывов графика работ обе компании теперь планируют провести испытательные полеты своих модулей без экипажей лишь в августе-сентябре 2018 года. С экипажем Boeing намеревается отправить корабль на орбиту в ноябре-декабре этого года, а SpaceX - в декабре 2018 года - январе 2019 года. Поэтому с учетом новых возможных задержек сертификация обоих кораблей была перенесена экспертами NASA на январь-февраль 2019 года.
Аудиторы же считают, что реальнее говорить о декабре 2019 года для модуля Boeing и январе 2020 года для корабля SpaceX. Это в лучшем случае. "Поэтому NASA нужно разработать запасной план действий, предусматривающий возможность доставки астронавтов на МКС после ноября 2019 года", - подчеркивается в докладе.

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История вопроса

После прекращения полетов шаттлов в 2011 году у NASA остался только один вариант для доставки на МКС и возвращения оттуда своих астронавтов - с помощью российских "Союзов". В феврале прошлого года американское космическое ведомство заключило соглашение с Boeing, позволяющее получить дополнительно пять мест на "Союзах" в 2017-2019 годах. Общая стоимость контракта составила $373,5 млн. Boeing приобрела эти места у РКК "Энергия" в рамках урегулирования судебной тяжбы по поводу совместного проекта "Морской старт".
И последнее место, как сейчас предполагается, будет использовано в ноябре 2019 года для возвращения американского астронавта со станции.
По словам аудиторов, NASA "уже задумалось над тем, как быть в том случае, если сертификация кораблей Boeing и SpaceX будет перенесена на 2020 год". В частности, рассматривается идея попробовать договориться с "Роскосмосом" о возвращении астронавта на "Союзе" не в ноябре 2019 года, а в январе 2020 года, что "даст два дополнительных месяца для начала полетов на коммерческих пилотируемых кораблях".
"На настоящий момент, как объяснили официальные лица NASA, возможность закупки дополнительных мест на "Союзах" представляется маловероятной, так как процесс строительства корабля и подписания соответствующего контракта обычно занимает три года - это означает, что эти места могут появиться не ранее 2021 года", - отметили аудиторы.

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[Salo]

Первоисточник https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/693035.pdf

[KBOB]

Перевод новости выше

Crew Dragon завершает термовакуумные тесты перед первым запуском
https://vk.com/@sci-crew-dragon-zavershaet-termovakuumnye-testy-pered-pervym-zap

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SpaceX‏Подлинная учетная запись @SpaceX 8 мин. назад

Crew Dragon arrived in Florida this week ahead of its first flight after completing thermal vacuum and acoustic testing at @NASA's Plum Brook Station in Ohio. http://instagram.com/p/BlJVBidF4I2/ 

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 4 мин. назад

ARTICLE: Crew Dragon arrives at Cape;
Space Station schedule to drive DM-1 launch date -

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/07/crew-dragon-cape-iss-schedule-drive-dm-1-date/ ...

- By Chris Gebhardt (@ChrisG_NSF)

(@kogavfx render for NSF)

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/07/14/spacexs-first-space-worthy-crew-dragon-capsule-arrives-at-cape-canaveral/

SpaceX's first space-worthy Crew Dragon capsule arrives at Cape Canaveral
July 14, 2018 | Stephen Clark


The Crew Dragon spacecraft slated to fly on SpaceX's first commercial crew orbital test flight, without astronauts on-board, arrived at Cape Canaveral this week. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft, a capsule designed to eventually carry astronauts on treks to the International Space Station, has arrived at Cape Canaveral to begin preparations for launch on an unpiloted test flight later this year.

But a target launch date for the uncrewed demonstration mission remains undecided, as officials assess the readiness of the Crew Dragon capsule, its unpressurized service module, or trunk section, its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, and the space station's availability to receive the spacecraft.

The most recent date officially communicated by NASA and SpaceX targets liftoff of the Crew Dragon's unpiloted test flight, called Demo-1, in August. But that's not going to happen, with the earliest possible launch date for Demo-1 now expected some time in the fall, according to multiple officials and internal documentation reviewed by Spaceflight Now.

Another test flight, using a second space-worthy Crew Dragon spaceship, is expected in early 2019. A more definitive target date has not been released by SpaceX or NASA, and a SpaceX spokesperson did not respond to an inquiry requesting a fresh schedule for the Crew Dragon demo flights.

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The Crew Dragon spacecraft assigned to the Demo-1 mission arrived at Cape Canaveral after completing testing at NASA's Plum Brook Station in Ohio in recent weeks. Inside the giant NASA-owned test chamber –the largest of its kind in the world — engineers subjected the capsule to the extremely cold, airless environment of space to ensure it could withstand the conditions.

The testing apparently went well, and ground crews at Cape Canaveral will spend the next few months outfitting the capsule with sensors, parachutes, propellant and other gear needed for the test flight.


NASA astronauts Eric Boe (left) and Bob Behnken (right) inspect a Crew Dragon spacecraft earlier this year. Credit: SpaceX

Janet Kavandi, a former astronaut and current director of NASA's Glenn Research Center, which oversees the Plum Brook Station facility, said Monday that SpaceX had finished up reverberant acoustic and thermal vacuum testing, and the Crew Dragon capsule had departed Ohio.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft was manufactured at SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, California, before going to Plum Brook for environmental testing, and finally shipping to Florida's Space Coast for launch preparations.

Production of the Falcon 9 rocket slated to launch the Demo-1 mission is nearing completion in Hawthorne. The launcher is based on SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 configuration, which made its first successful flight in May, but the vehicle assigned to Demo-1 will debut redesigned upper stage helium pressurant tanks, pressure vessels which include technical fixes to address the likely cause of a Falcon 9 rocket explosion on the launch pad in Florida in 2016.

Fitting the Crew Dragon's Demo-1 mission and the first orbital test flight of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, built by Boeing, NASA's other commercial crew transportation provider Boeing, into the space station's manifest of visiting crew and cargo vehicles will also help determine when they will launch, according to Kirk Shireman, NASA's space station program manger.

Shireman said June 28 that new target dates for the Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner rest flights would be "forthcoming very soon."

"In the end, on the space station, we have Progress vehicles, we have Soyuz vehicles, we have spacewalks," Shireman said. "It has to fit in amongst all those things. We just have to sit down all together, agree when the vehicles are going to be ready, when the certification is ready, and when it fits in the program plan. And that's the work that's still in front of us."

"There are a lot of moving parts," Shireman said. "Many of the moving parts are not in the purview of any one individual, so it's really all of us getting togther and agreeing when are all those parts going to fit together and create the opportunity (to fly)."


The Crew Dragon spacecraft pictured at NASA's Plum Brook Station test facility. Credit: SpaceX

A report released by the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday suggested further delays are expected in the certification of SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.

NASA is funding the two commercial crew spacecraft to end its reliance on Russian Soyuz crew ferry vehicles for flights to the space station.

In 2014, NASA agreed to a $4.2 billion contract with Boeing and a $2.6 billion deal with SpaceX to develop, build and fly the companies' CST-100 Starliner and Crew Dragon spaceships. At that time, NASA and its two commercial crew contractors expected to have the new vehicles certified for regular crew rotation missions to and from the International Space Station by the end of 2017.

But technical hurdles and several redesigns of the the spacecraft have delayed Boeing and SpaceX's first orbital test flights until later this year, and astronauts will not fly on the commercially-developed capsules until demonstration flights in early 2019. Then will come extensive reviews of the test flights' results before NASA certifies the vehicles to carry long-duration crews between Earth and the space station.

While Boeing and SpaceX's most recent public projections indicate they will complete the certification process in January and February 2019, respectively, NASA's own schedule analysis suggests that milestone will likely come nearly a year later.

"In April 2018, the program's schedule risk analysis found there was zero percent chance that either contractor would achieve its current proposed certification milestone," the GAO wrote in its report. "The analysis's average certification date was December 2019 for Boeing and January 2020 for SpaceX."

NASA and Boeing have agreed to potentially use the CST-100 Starliner's crewed test flight, which originally was supposed to launch with a Boeing test pilot and a NASA astronaut, to carry a passenger who would stay aboard the space station for a long-duration months-long stay.

The Russian space agency — Roscosmos — and NASA have agreed to extend the length of upcoming space station expeditions to more than six months. That will allow NASA's contract for astronauts seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to cover crew returns through at least January 2020, several months later than originally planned.

These measures are aimed at reducing the risk of a gap in U.S. crew access to the space station, a major topic addressed in the GAO's report earlier this week.

NASA has decided not to purchase additional Soyuz seats from the Russian government, and officials say there is a three-year lead time required to build new Soyuz spacecraft, eliminating any chance for the U.S. space agency to buy more seats for astronauts launching in 2020.

Once the Boeing and SpaceX crew craft are flying, NASA and Roscosmos plan to put one of their crew members on each U.S. and Russian crew launch to the space station. That means U.S. astronauts will continue launching on Soyuz missions, but NASA will provide the same opportunity for Russian cosmonauts on U.S. vehicles in an in-kind arrangement, ending NASA's payments to Russia.

In the worst-case scenario, neither company will be ready to begin crew rotation services to the space station until August 2020, according to NASA's schedule analysis.

Echoing concerns raised by Congress and NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, the GAO said NASA "lacks a consistent approach to assess key safety metrics" on the commercial crew vehicles. Safety officials are concerned neither company will meet NASA's contractual requirement of a 1-in-270 probability of losing a crew on a CST-100 Starliner or Crew Dragon mission.

NASA officials have said the primary driver behind the difficulty of meeting the 1-in-270 loss of crew, or LOC, requirement stems from hazards posed by space junk, which could collide with the capsules in orbit. Engineers are reviewing options, such as in-orbit inspections of the vehicle's heat shields, to mitigate the risk.

The GAO's report also outlined several additional "top risks" facing each commercial crew capsule during development.

SpaceX's top risks include the safety of the Falcon 9 rocket's new helium composite overwrapped pressure vessels, which will launch for the first time on the Demo-1 mission, and cracking discovered in the turbines of Falcon 9 rocket engines. The new-generation Falcon 9 Block 5 design includes changes to address the cracking risk.

NASA is also also considering whether to approve SpaceX's plan to load liquid propellants into the Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts already strapped in to their seats on top of the launcher.

For Boeing, the top risks include concerns with the CST-100 Starliner's abort system, parachutes, and the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket it will ride into orbit.

"Boeing is addressing a risk that its abort system, which it needs for human spaceflight certification, may not meet the program's requirement to have sufficient control of the vehicle through an abort," the GAO wrote in its report. "In some abort scenarios, Boeing has found that the spacecraft may tumble, which could pose a threat to the crew's safety."

Wind tunnel testing and data gather during an upcoming pad abort test will confirm the effectiveness of the abort system, the GAO said.

There is also a concern that the forward heat shield, which will jettison from the CST-100 Starliner on descent, may re-contact the spacecraft after separation and damage its parachute system. NASA and Boeing are still assessing whether that possibility is acceptable, the GAO said.

Boeing's commercial crew missions will land with the aid of parachutes and airbags at one of several possible desert locations in the Western United States. The CST-100 Starliner's early landings are likely to target White Sands, New Mexico.

Crew Dragon capsules will come back to Earth with parachute-assisted splashdowns at sea. SpaceX has shelved earlier plans to use the Crew Dragon's rocket thrusters for propulsive, precise touchdowns on land.

NASA's commercial crew managers may have insufficient data from Boeing's launch contractor, ULA, to determine if the Atlas 5 rocket is susceptible to "cracking that could lead to catastrophic failures," the GAO wrote in its report. NASA is also concerned its engineers may not have access to data on the Atlas 5's RD-180 main engine. The information is restricted by agreements between the U.S. and Russian governments, the government watchdog said.

With the departure of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule earlier this month, NASA's Plum Brook Station is preparing to host new spacecraft for testing.

"On the space side, we're really getting a lot of use out of those test chambers out there," Kavandi said Monday at the American Insitute for Aeronautics and Astronautics Propulsion and Energy Forum in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Next up for Plum Brook Station will be a series of ground tests on the launch abort system for NASA's Orion crew capsule, a vehicle intended for missions to the moon and other deep space destinations. The combined crew and service modules for the next Orion spacecraft, scheduled for a long-delayed unpiloted test flight around the moon in 2020, will also be put through acoustic and thermal vacuum testing at Plum Brook Station.

Other commercial space companies, such as Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada, plan to use the Plum Brook Station facility for testing.

"Of course, everyone is trying to launch at about the same timeframe," Kavandi said. "Everyone is trying to shoot for the 2020, 2021, 2022 timeframe. There's a big push to get out there and get tested, so we're doing our best to fit everyone in."

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Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 1 ч. назад

#NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) reviews #SpaceX's positive progress (#CrewDragon) &critical #Boeing failure (#Starliner) before 1st #CommercialCrew flights, warns that Boeing's flight schedule is not well understood & in flux. (: @kogavfx)

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/07/asap-boeing-failure-positive-spacex-crew-announcement/ ...

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https://spacenews.com/safety-panel-warns-schedule-for-commercial-crew-test-flights-still-uncertain/

Safety panel warns schedule for commercial crew test flights still uncertain
by Jeff Foust — July 30, 2018


A safety panel said that while a "realistic timeframe" for uncrewed test flights of the Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner vehicles can now be projected, schedules for later crewed test flights are still uncertain. Credit: SpaceX artist's concept and Boeing

WASHINGTON — As NASA prepares to announce the astronauts who will fly the first commercial crew missions, an independent safety board is cautioning that it is still too soon to set dates for those flights.

NASA said in a statement last week that it will name the astronauts who will fly the crewed demo flights by Boeing and SpaceX during an event Aug. 3 at the Johnson Space Center. The event will also announce the crews for the first post-certification missions by each company, which will mark the start of routine transportation of astronauts to and fr om the station by Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon.

The NASA statement did not explicitly state if the agency will also upd ate the schedule for those flights. The latest public schedules, released by NASA early this year, call for uncrewed test flights by both companies in August, followed by crewed test flights by Boeing in November and SpaceX in December. However, delays of at least several months are widely expected for both companies' test flights.

Members of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) appeared to caution against flying at least the crewed demonstration flights in the near future. "We see both continued progress and a large volume of work ahead" for the commercial crew program, said Patricia Sanders, chair of ASAP, at a July 26 meeting at NASA Headquarters. "It should be possible to project a realistic timeframe for at least the uncrewed test flights."

However, she said that did not extend to the later crewed flights. "Depending on the results of the uncrewed flights as well as the resolution of some outstanding technical issues, firm dates for the crewed flight tests are still uncertain," she said.

...

SpaceX and NASA are still working two issues with its Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 launch vehicle. One is the redesign of composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) used to store helium in the propellant tanks on the Falcon 9. SpaceX has redesigned the COPV following an accident nearly two years ago that destroyed a Falcon 9 and its satellite payload prior to a static-fire test.

"There's still a lot of work to do. They jury's still out on this," said ASAP member David West on the COPV redesign. "We look forward to seeing what the result of all this work will mean in terms of a final characterization of the risk and whether or not that risk will be acceptable." If that risk is not acceptable, he added, further risk mitigation measures, which he didn't specify, may be needed.

SpaceX has also been addressing an issue with the Falcon 9's Merlin 1D engine. Examination of some of the first engines found anomalies that were "potentially dangerous, and certainly not desirable," said ASAP member Donald McErlean. SpaceX and NASA have worked on a test plan to address the problem.

SpaceX and NASA, he said, have come up "two principal courses of action in the short term" to correct the problem and two others that would require more modifications to the engine. "The risk is low enough with the two short-term modifications to use those for powering the uncrewed test," he said, "and the decision for powering the crewed test would come later." He didn't elaborate on those courses of action, but said that the panel was "optimistic those courses of action will result in a satisfactory conclusion."

Despite the technical issues that could delay those test flights, ASAP members said they saw no evidence of safety being jeopardized. "The ASAP has not seen any evidence of negative safety impacts based on schedule pressure," Nield said. "I think people are looking for that. They're aware of the danger there."

ASAP members praised SpaceX in particular for its attention to safety issues, such as development of software tools for tracking development and production issues. "Their tool se t, if used comprehensively and broadly across their culture, are actually very encouraging to us as something that could evolve into an admirable advantage," ASAP member Susan Helms said. "It looks like things are on a good path."

"We're at the point where, after many years of those demo flights being distantly in the future, we're reaching the point wh ere the program is rapidly approaching the launch of those demos," said ASAP member Sandy Magnus. "There's a lot yet to accomplish."

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Emre Kelly‏Подлинная учетная запись @EmreKelly 10 мин. назад

Shiny new renderings of SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's Starliner released by @NASAKennedy show some pretty incredible details.

Full res: https://bit.ly/2Km2m7I  | https://bit.ly/2LNlalJ 

https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/132221.jpg

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2018/08/02/nasas-commercial-crew-program-target-test-flight-dates-3/

NASA's Commercial Crew Program Target Test Flight Dates

Stephanie Martin
Posted Aug 2, 2018 at 2:00 pm

The next generation of American spacecraft and rockets that will launch astronauts to the International Space Station are nearing the final stages of development and evaluation. NASA's Commercial Crew Program will return human spaceflight launches to U.S. soil, providing safe, reliable and cost-effective access to low-Earth orbit on systems that meet our safety and mission requirements. To meet NASA's requirements, the commercial providers must demonstrate that their systems are ready to begin regular flights to the space station. Two of those demonstrations are uncrewed flight tests, known as Orbital Flight Test for Boeing, and Demo-1 for SpaceX. After the uncrewed flight tests, both companies will execute a flight test with crew prior to being certified by NASA for crew rotation missions. The following schedule reflects the most recent publicly releasable dates for both providers.

Targeted Test Flight Dates:
...
SpaceX Demo-1 (uncrewed): November 2018
SpaceX Demo-2 (crewed): April 2019