NASA Sets May 27 Target for First Crewed Launch From US Soil Since 2011
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced a May 27 target for the SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission carrying astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS.
We finally have a date to circle on the calendar. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced today that the agency and SpaceX are targeting May 27 for the launch of Crew Dragon Demo-2, sending astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station aboard a Falcon 9. If it holds, this will be the first crewed orbital launch to leave US soil since the Space Shuttle program retired back in 2011.
That’s nine years of American astronauts hitching rides to the ISS on Russian Soyuz rockets out of Baikonur. Nine years of a gap that was supposed to be much shorter when the Shuttle was retired, and nine years of watching the Commercial Crew Program slip deadline after deadline. So forgive me for treating “target date” with a little bit of caution — but also for being genuinely excited that we’re here.
Why this launch matters
Demo-2 is the last major test flight before Crew Dragon gets certified for regular operational missions. It follows the uncrewed Demo-1 flight last year, which docked with the station successfully, and an in-flight abort test earlier this year that proved the capsule’s escape system works if something goes wrong on ascent. Putting Behnken and Hurley on top of the rocket is the step that actually validates the whole system with humans inside it, not just cargo or test dummies.
Both astronauts are veteran Shuttle fliers, which feels fitting. They know what it’s like to launch from the Cape, and now they get to be the ones to reopen that chapter.
What could still change
May 27 is a target, not a guarantee, and everyone involved has been careful to frame it that way. Launch dates like this have a habit of moving — weather, hardware checkouts, last-minute technical reviews, all of it can push things back by days or weeks. There’s also the obvious backdrop of a global pandemic that’s disrupting basically every industry right now, including aerospace supply chains and testing schedules. NASA and SpaceX both seem intent on proceeding, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see the date slip.
If it does go up on schedule, though, it’s a genuinely historic moment: the first time a private company has launched astronauts into orbit, and the first domestic crewed launch in almost a decade. It also matters strategically — NASA has been paying Roscosmos tens of millions of dollars per seat for Soyuz rides, and restoring a domestic crew launch capability ends that dependency.
Six weeks out. Plenty can happen between now and then, but for the first time in a long while, there’s an actual date on the board. I’ll be watching the Cape.