Washington sources reported that the first human spaceflight aboard a SpaceX rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) is expected to take place in June 2019, while a flight on a Boeing spacecraft is set to follow in August 2019. Meanwhile it is the first crewed mission by the US since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011. Furthermore NASA astronauts currently use Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and its contract is set to expire in November 2019.
Meanwhile both SpaceX and Boeing launches have already been postponed several times; NASA said that it would now be providing monthly updates on deadlines. Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA headquarters said "This new process for reporting our schedule is better; nevertheless, launch dates will still have some uncertainty, and we anticipate they may change as we get closer to launch".
Recently NASA said “Boeing and SpaceX have made significant strides in the
development and operation of a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems
in partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program”. Moreover the success of
these human spaceflight systems will be an unprecedented achievement for the
commercial space industry and will enable NASA to focus on deep space
exploration with NASA's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System, as we return
humans to the Moon and on to Mars.
