NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 mission to ISS set for September launch

NASA is targeting late September for the launch of the first operational commercial crew flight of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station.

Crew Dragon commander Michael Hopkins, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Shannon Walker -- all of NASA -- along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialist Soichi Noguchi will launch on the SpaceX Crew-1 mission, the US space agency said on Wednesday.

The Crew-1 mission will be launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA`s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX in late May created history when it sent two NASA astronauts to the space station in a test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, called the Demo-2.

That spacecraft that carried two NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the ISS is set to depart the orbiting laboratory on August 1 and reach Earth on August 2, marking the end of the first crewed mission test for the Elon Musk-led company.

The launch of the SpaceX Crew-1 mission will follow a successful return of the two astronauts from the space station and evaluation of SpaceX Demo-2 test flight.