Link between Space X's Crew Dragon capsule and the ISS, which took place in March 2019 - NASA

NASA had to choose between SpaceX and Boeing to manufacture the spacecraft used to send astronauts into space. The American space agency finally opted for the Crew Dragon capsule of the company founded by Elon Musk, rather than the Starliner of the aircraft manufacturer. NASA specialists plan to subject the spacecraft to several tests in the coming weeks, reports the high-tech press-lemon site.

With this in mind, the SpaceX spacecraft was delivered to the Cape Canaveral space base on Friday, the agency said on its Twitter page. If all the tests are successful, Crew Dragon will become on May 7 the first spacecraft manufactured by a private American company to embark human beings in space. On that day, astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will fly aboard the capsule to join the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft will then return to Earth.

Crew Dragon in Florida ahead of its flight to and from the @space_station with @NASA astronauts @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug onboard! pic.twitter.com/nerz0Qujso

- SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 14, 2020

End of collaboration with Russia

NASA wanted to launch a collaboration with an American partner in order to replace the Russian company which supplied it until now the Soyuz spacecraft, used for manned space flights. This cooperation between Russia and the United States had started in 2011. Since then, Boeing and SpaceX have engaged in a fierce battle to win the contract.

The explosion of a copy of Crew Dragon in April 2019, during a test, could have made SpaceX lose the race. But Boeing had also chained the disappointments, says Presse-Citron . A test flight to the ISS had to be aborted due to a fuel consumption problem.

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