With SpaceX set to launch another 60 new Starlink internet satellites into orbit Monday, a Russian news agency is reporting an American manned spacecraft is set to launch in May.
The launch of the first manned SpaceX Dragon Crew is planned for May 20, according to a source for RIA News.
Neither SpaceX nor NASA has confirmed the information.
Watch SpaceX's Monday launch at 10 a.m. by clicking here.
The last manned American spacecraft flight was in 2011, with the final space shuttle mission. U.S. crews have relied on Russian Soyuz rockets to carry Americans to the International Space Station since then.
In January, SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced the first flight of the Crew Dragon will take place in the second quarter of 2020.
In December, Boeing’s historic launch of its Starliner capsule lit up Georgia skies on a similar unmanned mission to the ISS.
The Starliner carried Christmas treats and presents for the six ISS residents; hundreds of tree seeds similar to those that flew to the moon on Apollo 14; the original air travel ID card belonging to Boeing’s founder; and a mannequin named Rosie in the commander’s seat.
Piloting the ship alongside Rosie was a stuffed Snoopy doll in full astronaut gear.
However, the spacecraft burned too much fuel while trying to insert itself into earth orbit. NASA officials said the spacecraft missed its ISS rendezvous.
The mission was cut short to 48 hours, instead of an eight-day mission to the ISS.
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