NASA and SpaceX to launch Dragon Capsule on Saturday

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Monday, February 25, 2019
NASA and SpaceX launch test flight this week
NASA and SpaceX are set to launch their first test flight of their new commercial dragon capsule this week.

TITUSVILLE, Florida (KTRK) -- NASA and SpaceX will launch their first test flight of their new commercial Dragon Capsule on Saturday.

RELATED: NASA announces crew who will fly first commercial rockets into space

NASA announced the group of astronauts who will be carrying out their first commercial flight.

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.