RELATED: NASA announces crew who will fly first commercial rockets into space
NASA names astronauts to carry out first commercial flights
The capsule is designed to hold a crew, but no one will actually be onboard this test flight. The long-awaited mission is a critical milestone in NASA's $6.8 billion Commercial Crew Program. They hope to end the agency's sole reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ferry U.S. and partner astronauts to and from the ISS in the wake of the space shuttle's retirement eight years ago.
If this test flight goes well, two astronauts could strap in for the next test flight this summer.
It's set to launch from the Kennedy Space Center.